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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

Emily C Pearson, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



4 



RiYFKsii.r. < \MuurnoR : 
TYPED kHD 
ii. «■ UOUGHTO* iKb 



TO THE GIFTED INTELLECTS, 

WILLING HEARTS, 

AND DEXTEROUS FINGERS 

ENGAGED IN MAKING THE GREAT ART 

A BLESSING TO THE WORLD. 



PEEFATOEY. 



T>RINTING has been styled " The telescope of 
the soul." As the optical instrument brings 
near and magnifies objects remote and invisible, so 
printing puts us in communication with minds of 
the past and present, and preserves the thoughts 
of this age for future generations. 

But no one of the good and great of the past was 
permitted to lead the way in embodying thought on 
the printed page, save the wonderful man sketched 
in this volume. Out of a full heart of reverence, 
then, it is most fitting to embalm the memory of 
Gutenberg. 

While musing on certain old archives touching 
Jhe history of printing, it was suggested by literary 
friends, that we weave a memorial narrative of the 
chevalier and artisan honored in bringing the art to 
light. Accordingly we engaged in the work, hav- 
ing culled the most authentic warp and woof within 
reach. 



iv PREFATORY. 

Devised in the quiet of old libraries, and in the 
hush of peace, our little history finds itself her- 
alded by the march of armies, and the clash of em- 
pires. War, ever to be deplored as the author 
of almost unmingled evil, has turned attention to 
the cradles of printing, — Strasbourg and Mentz. 
Directly we recognize them, shake hands, and are 
at home with those glorious old Rhenish cities, 
made famous for all time. 

It is an interesting fact that the final completion 
of the world-famed Minster or Cathedral of Stras- 
bourg, closely preludes the time when the art of 
printing had its rise. Earth's loftiest spire' may 
well mark the place where Heaven gave the great- 
est treasure-art to man. 

Pains have been taken to harmonize the accounts 
of early printing by various credible authors, and 
when in doubt from conflicting statements, for 
safety and defense, we have taken shelter under 
the wings of the encyclopaedias. 

Led on by the romance of the broken betrothal, 
and afterwards most happy marriage, we love to 
linger over the art devised and cherished in the 
sanctity of the inventor's home. Nobly did the 
Lady Anna exercise her * k right," and to 1km-, 
almosl equally with her husband, arc we indebted, 



PREFATORY. V 

since she cheered his way, inspiring courage in his 
work. 

In a cell of St. Arbogast, our hero found a quiet 
retreat for some of his secret experiments ; never 
was an old ruin turned to better account. The 
Library and Scriptorium of the great Cathedral 
also paid tribute to this man's genius. But mag- 
nificent things were accomplished in Mentz, after 
his unparalleled overthrow in Strasbourg. " Or- 
ganizing victory out of defeat," he took into part- 
nership the two men of the time best fitted for the 
purpose, and engaged anew in his chosen vocation. 
One is startled at the sequel of this fraternal alli- 
ance in the estrangement of those so knit together 
in pursuit and interest ; but the stupendous enter- 
prise of the firm, and the stricken man mysteriously 
" betrayed in the house of his friends," were alike 
upheld by an Unseen Hand. 

His persistence and noble purpose in inventing 
— how infinitely more worthy of a place on immor- 
tal records than are the deeds of the warrior ! 

The design of our work allows only a brief 
sketch of the progress of the art subsequent to the 
days of Gutenberg. 

It is gratifying to note that certain ladies early 
engaged in the ennobling employment, and for 
many years won golden opinions. 



vi PREFATORY. 

We gratefully acknowledge obligations to Messrs. 
Rand, Avery, and Frye, 3 Cornhill, Boston ; and 
also to Messrs. H. O. Houghton and Co., River- 
side, Cambridge, for their courtesy in explaining 
the various processes of their model establishments, 
to assist the writer in forming a correct idea of the 
present state of the art. 
Andover, December, 1870. 




CONTENTS. 



I. PAGE 

Strasbourg and its Cathedral. — Gutenberg's Early Life. — 
Civil Strife. — Romantic Lawsuit . . . . .7 

II. 

Gutenberg in Exile. — His Trade as Lapidary. — Curious 
Law. — Ancient Cuts. — A Picture of a Saint. — Legend. 
- — The Bible for the Poor. — A Secret discovered. — Guten- 
berg's Experiment 14 

III. 

Ancient Books and their Materials. — Sculptures. — Printing 
in China. — Use of Metals. — Seal. — Stencils. — Waxen 
Tablets. — Bark, Leaves, Shells. — Papyrus. — Parchments. 

— Paper. — Palimpsests. — Books written by Hand. — The 
Scriptorium. — Copyists and their Habits. — Illuminations. 

— Character of Ancient Books. — Scarcity and Costliness 
of Books. — Bichard de Bury and Library. — Statutes of 
St. Mary's College. — Books chained. — Abundance of 
Books in Modern Times 29 

IV. 

An Important Step. — Engraving a Name. — Engraving Pic- 
tures. — Superstitions. — Difficulties overcome. — An Im- 
provement. — Experiment and Progress. — A New Book. 

— Cheerful Thoughts 45 

1 



CONTENTS. 



Pecuniary Troubles. — An Expedient. — Disappointment. — 
The Jewels. — A Sale. — Apprentices. — Visit to the Ca- 
thedral. — A New Enterprise 52 

VI. 

Unwelcome Visitors. — Unjust Demand. — A Compromise. 

— Secret Firm. — A Removal. — Teaching the Workmen. 

— Block Printing. — Success 61 

VII. 

Small Receipts. — Printing the "Donatus." — "Ars Memo- 
randa" — " Ars Moriendi." — An Interesting Fact. — Ex- 
tract from " Ars Moriendi " 71 

VIII. 

Effect of Gutenberg's Books. — His Times and Ours. — His 
Books at the Cathedral. — Curiosity of the Monks. — 
Proposition of the Abbot. — The " Bible for the Poor/' — 
A Great Work well done. — A Good Sale. — The Canticles 
issued. — A Difficult Undertaking. — Discontent. — An Ac- 
cident. — Discovery of Separate Types. — The Firs t Fon t 
_pf M ovable Type. — Difficulties mastered. — The Great 
Helper 75 

IX. 

Anna's Disappointment. — Dritzhn's Regrets. — Comfort for 
Anna. — Gutenberg's Progress described. — The Great 
Enlightener. — Advantages of Movable Type. — Another 
Book. — Obstacles. — Criticisms. — Invention. — A Press 
contrived. — New Cause of Disquiet 92 

X. 

A Partner at tin* Confessional. — His Death. — Consequences. 

— A Lawsuit. — Thieves. — Dangerous Curiosity. — Dc- 



CONTENTS. 3 

PAGE 

struction of Gutenberg's Type. — Curious Testimonies. — 
Value of the Legal Document. — Proof that Gutenberg 
was the Real Inventor. — The Magistrate's Just Judgment. 

— Public Excitement . . . . . .107 

XL 

Benighted. — Minstrel of the Hearth. — The Black Art. — A 
Barefoot Friar. — Popular Prejudice. — Hopes and Pears. 

— Gutenberg returns to his Trade. — Dissolution of the 
Copartnership , . „ 118 

XII. 

Congenial Quiet — Making Type again. — Gutenberg issues 
" Absies." — Peter Schoeffer. — Decides to remove to Mentz. y 

— Emotions of Gutenberg. — Eraternal Sympathy. — The 
Meeting with Faust — Gutenberg reveals his Art — A 
Rich Partner 127 

xni. 

The Zum Jungen. — The Old Valet, — A Happy Change. 

— Going over the Process anew. — Good Progress. — Peter 
Schoeffer 140 

XIV. 

Working of the Press. — The Medallion. — An Acquisition. 

— Experiments. — A Failure. — Schoeffer's Invention. — 
Discovery of Cast Metal Type 148 

XV. 

Schoeffer admitted to the Firm. — A Grand Project. — How 
a Bible was borrowed. — The Early Press. — Processes in 
Book-making. — Ingenuity of Peter Schoeffer. — Industry 
of the Firm. — Ink. — Cast Type. — Three Ingenious Men. 

— Letter-founding. — Faust compliments Peter. — The 
first Printed Pa^e of the Bible. — A Memorable Year . 155 



4 CONTENTS. 

XVI. PAGE 

Faust's Discontent. — Conspiracy against Gutenberg. — A 
Secret kept. — The Lawsuit. — Gutenberg supplanted. — 
A New Firm. — Gutenberg's Sorrow 168 

XVII. 

The Story of Faust's Visit to Paris. — Was it Witchcraft ? 
— Popular Excitement. — Scene in a Court Room. — Issue 
of the Psalter 182 

XVIII. 

New Friends. — The Nun. — Gutenberg at Work again. — 
Printing of the "Balbus de Janua." — Other Works. — A 
Curious Record. — Death of the Great Inventor. — Fade- 
less Laurels 192 

XIX. 

Faust a^d SchoefFer's Success. — More Books issued. — An 
Eventful Year. — Greek Type. — Struck by the Plague. — 
The Parisians and Faust's Descendants. — Schoeffer's 
Death. — Testimony to Gutenberg. — Extension of the 
Art. — Piety and Chess. — Education in the Olden Time. 
—Unveiling the Statue 206 



XX. 

Peculiarities of the First Printed Books Early Printers. — 

Piety and dies-. — Education in the Olden Time. — A 
Great Enterprise. — Unveiling Gutenberg's Statue . . 217 

XXI. 

Modes of making Type. — Varieties of Type. — Cylindrical 
Ink-distributor. — A Etfodern Printing Establishment. — 
Composition Room. — Cases. — Proof-reading . . . 225 



CONTENTS. 



XXII. 



Type-setting by Machinery. — Its Practicability. — Various 
Machines devised. — The Brown Type-setter and Distrib- 
uter described. — Simplicity. — Reliability. — Speed . .235 

XXIII. 

Stereotyping. — Plaster Moulds. — Planing and Beveling. 

— Correcting Stereotype Plates. — Process of Electro- 
typing. — The " Guillotine." — Ornamenting . . . 247 

XXIV. 

The Hand-press. — Earl Stanhope's Press. — Improvements. 

— Cylinder Presses. — Press-room — Drying Room. — 
Sewing Room. — Elevator. — Books for the Blind. — 
Type, Press, and Paper invented. — Catalogue of Great 
Exhibition. — Estimate of Rapid Labor by Machinery . 263 

XXV. 

Time of the Great Invention. — A Eirst Gift. — Discovery of 
the Alphabet. — A New Era. — Royal Printers. — Knights 
of Type and Pen. — A Mighty Engine. — Gutenberg's 
Dream. — The Press mighty 281 




GUTE^BEKG, 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



Strasbourg and its Cathedral. — Gutenberg's Early Life. — Civil 
^ Strife. — Romantic Lawsuit. 

XTTHO has not heard of the noble Rhine, which 
* * winds many hundred miles through Central 
Europe ? Castles, vineyards, farms, and forests, 
with now and then a village or a city, diversify its 
banks. 

Prominent among its cities is Strasbourg ; a 
strongly fortified border town, founded ages ago by 
the Romans, but held recently by France. It was 
an imperial city of the German empire in 1681, 
.when Louis XIV. got possession of it, by an un- 
warrantable attack in a time of peace. It is in 
shape a triangle, with walls six miles in circuit, 
entered by seven gates. The fortifications extend 
to the Rhine, although the main city, of 85,000 
inhabitants, is situated a mile and a half back on the 



8 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Ill, a branch of the Rhine. The tourist, while still 
far distant, sees the spire of the famous Cathedral, 
Notre Dame. It is the highest spire in the world, 
a masterpiece of airy open-work, of elaborate 
tracery and delicate workmanship, towering aloft 
four hundred and sixty-six feet, twenty-four feet 
higher than the great Pyramid of Egypt, and more 
than twice as high as Bunker Hill Monument. The 
great Minster of which it is a part, was nine hun- 
dred years in building, and was finished shortly 
before our story begins. When the late war came, 
the Rhine, Strasbourg, and its Cathedral, were not 
wholly unlike what they were at that time, — four 
hundred and thirty-five years ago. It is true, rail- 
road trains would shriek on either side of the river, 
and gaudy steamers bustle up and down, and oc- 
casionally a " water-cure " or a " juvenile reforma- 
tory " meet the eye, signs of modern progress; but 
in strange contrast with these the Roman and 
mediaeval remains. Rhineland is at once ancient 
and modern. Here are "ruins of the Middle Ages, 
and marks of the French Revolution ; the bones of 
great feudal giants, and scars of modern disturb- 
ance. " The old homes of the warlike barons still 
stand, and the incense-flavored churches, whose 
corner-stones were laid in the dim past. 

It is in the year 1486 : and the visitor, if he 
approaches the city from the French side, before 



GUTENBERG'S EARLY LIFE. 9 

entering the west gate will be sure to seek out 
John Gutenberg, a noted man who lives in the 
suburbs in yonder pretty cottage, half hidden in ivy 
and honeysuckle, and the ancient turrets of St. 
Argobast Monastery, not a stone's throw distant, 
frowning upon it. There is a woman of taste 
within ; the well-trained vines speak of her, as do 
the tulips and wall-flowers. And the eye glances 
admiringly from these to the apple-trees, with their 
wealth of blossoms, and the lilacs, jubilant with 
plumes. 

Gutenberg was born at Mentz, a free and rich 
city on the Rhine, about the year 1400, and, when 
yet a young man, fled, on account of political dis- 
sensions, to Strasbourg, sixty miles distant. Of his 
childhood little is known ; yet some German and 
other writers draw pleasing pictures of his youth. 
They represent him as high-spirited, thoughtful, and 
devout; influenced by a desire that good books 
might be made common, and as having "a fore- 
seeing consciousness " of the part he was to act in 
bringing it about. " He said to himself, from his 
earliest years," says one of his biographers, " God 
suffers in the great multitudes whom his sacred 
word cannot reach. Religious truth is captive in a 
small number of manuscript books, which guard the 
common treasure, instead of diffusing it. Let us 
break the seal which holds the holy things ; give 



10 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

wings to the truth, that by means of speech, no 
longer written at great expense by the hand that 
wearies itself, but multiplied as the air by an un- 
wearied machine, it may fly to seek every soul born 
into the world ! " 

If this was true of Gutenberg while young, no 
wonder that his manhood was crowned so gloriously. 
He placed before himself at the outset a great and 
worthy object ; he felt through life the thrill of an 
inspiring purpose, which stimulated and ennobled his 
nature, and tended naturally to success. Had he, 
like thousands, been contented to drift through the 
world with the current wherever it chanced to bear 
him, living for himself and the fleeting present, 
never should we have heard of John Gutenberg. 

But there is a fact in Gutenberg's early history 
which does not seem to present him in an amiable 
light, as he figures in a lawsuit, having been sued 
by the father of his betrothed, to compel him to ful- 
fill his promise of marriage. There is, however, 
no evidence that Gutenberg intended any wrong in 
this affair, as he sincerely loved Anna von Isernen 
Thiir, 1 the young lady to whom he was engaged. 
She was of noble family, of the city of Strasbourg. 
His property had been confiscated in Mentz in the 
struggle between the plebeians and the nobility, and 

1 Family name, it ia said, from tin* possession of a feudal castle 
on the heights of the Rhine. 



CIVIL STRIFE. 11 

his failure in keeping his troth is attributed to his 
sensitiveness to his misfortunes. 

It has been remarked, that if Mentz, Gutenberg's 
native place, had not been a free city, he might not 
have conceived or executed his invention ; for des- 
potism, like superstition, imposes silence. " It was 
fitting that printing and liberty should be born of 
the same sun and the same air." Mentz, Strasbourg, 
Worms, and other municipal cities of the Rhine, 
were small federative republics ; as Florence, 
Genoa, Venice, and the republics of Italy. The 
youth of our country find freedom favorable to 
thought and invention ; thus young Gutenberg 
found it. Yet civil strife marked the history of 
those cities. " In them were the warlike nobility, 
the aspiring burghers, and the laboring people, who 
floated between these two contending classes, alter- 
nately caressed and oppressed by them, yet at times 
themselves striving for the supremacy. In these 
commotions, victory rested sometimes with the pa- 
trician, sometimes with the plebeian, and numbers 
on either side were from time to time outlawed. 
But these had not the sea to cross to fly the country ; 
they traversed the Rhine. Those banished from 
Strasbourg, went to Mentz ; those from Mentz, to 
Strasbourg, to await a turn of events, or the recall 
of the exiles." 

In these intestine quarrels, young Gutenberg, 



12 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

himself of the nobility, " and naturally combating 
for the cause most holy in the eyes of a son, that 
of a father," was twice vanquished and expelled 
by the burghers, with all the chevaliers of the fam- 
ily, — his mother and sisters being permitted to 
remain in possession of their property. Later, the 
free city of Frankfort offering to mediate between 
the nobles and plebeians, it obtained the return of 
those who had been banished, on condition of the 
equality of the two classes in the administration of 
the government. Meanwhile Gutenberg, having 
become absorbed in his inventive studies, did not re- 
turn ; and his mother petitioned the Republic to give 
him as a pension a portion of the revenue of his 
confiscated property. Answer was given, that the 
refusing to return to his own country, by the young 
patrician, was a declaration of hostility ; and he 
must therefore be treated as one of its enemies. 
So his mother continued to send him secret supplies 
from her own resources. 

But the faithful Lady Anna did not seek to free 
herself from her plighted faith, because of the ad- 
versities of her lover. If he shrank from receiving 
her to the humble circumstances in which he had 
been thrown, she was still true to her vows. And 
as his humility and thoughtful scruples could not be 
overcome in any other way, she vanquished them 
by ;i legal summons; her father citing him before a 



ROMANTIC LAWSUIT. 13 

magistrate of Strasbourg, to cause him to fulfill his 
promise of marriage. This summons of the Lady 
Anna to Gutenberg remains to-day as an authentic 
memorial of his marriage. For the faltering arti- 
san yielded to " this generous violence of affection," 
and consummated his happiness by marrying the 
fair plaintiff in the suit. 





II. 

Gutenberg in Exile. — His Trade as Lapidary. — Curious Law. — 
Ancient Cuts. — Picture of a Saint. — Legend. — The Bible 
for the Poor. — A Secret discovered. — Gutenberg's Experiment. 

A FTER his banishment, Gutenberg was not an 
-*-*- idler. During his exile, we are told that he 
devoted time to travelling from city to city, study- 
ing monuments, and visiting men celebrated in art, 
science, or handicraft. For not only was he edu- 
cated, but he cultivated a literary taste, and had 
chosen a trade, that of the lapidary, or polisher of 
precious stones. Then, in Germany, the artisan, 
or one trained to a trade, and the artist, held nearly 
the same rank ; since the trades, scarcely discovered, 
were confounded with the arts. Indeed, when the 
humbler professions brought forth their first chefs- 
d'oeuvre, they were admired as prodigies, because 
new. The mechanic arts held an honorable place, 
only people of property being permitted to learn 
them; this matter being regulated by the statutes. 
Thus in England at that period it was decreed con- 
cerning persons whose income was less than twenty 
shillings by the year, "They shall be put to other 
labors, upon pain of one 1 year's imprisonment." 



HIS TRADE AS LAPIDARY. 15 

Hence artisans were a wealthy and influential 
class in society, and, in some cases, with their daily 
occupation cultivated a love of knowledge. And 
Gutenberg, by learning the lapidary's trade, did not 
descend to the lowest social level, while at the same 
time he acquired that mechanical skill which was 
afterwards to turn to the benefit of the whole hu- 
man race. 

He is pictured as occupying the front room of 
his dwelling as a work-shop, where he plied his 
trade during the day, and men of standing sought 
the society of the cultivated artisan, " so high a pop- 
ularity did he enjoy in Strasbourg for his character 
and scholarship." 

At this time, he seemed scarcely thirty, although 
six years older ; a health-tinted face, high fair fore- 
head, large blue expressive eyes, gave him a youth- 
ful look. The precise turn of his chin was hidden 
in a thick tawny beard. There was an air of grave 
thoughtfulness about him, as if he was influenced 
by some earnest purpose. 

One evening, just after supper, the serving wo- 
man Elsie having cleared the table and swept the 
hearth, Gutenberg, always busy even in the cozy 
comfort of his fireside, became absorbed in examin- 
ing a playing-card. The Lady Anna was seated be- 
side him, and after a little time looked up from her 
work, and said in her own pleasant way, — 



16 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" Prithee, John, what marvel dost thou find in 
that card ? One would think it the face of a saint, 
so closely thou dost regard it." 

"Nay, little wife; but didst thou ever consider 
in what way this is made ?" 

" I suppose that it was drawn in outline, and then 
painted, like other pictures." 

" But there is a more excellent way," said Gu- 
tenberg. " These lines, I find, were first marked 
on a wooden block, and then the wood was cut 
away, so that they were left raised ; this portion 
was then smeared with ink and pressed on the pa- 
per. And this, my Anna, is shorter than by draw- 
ing and painting, because when once a block is 
engraved, it can be used to impress any number 
of cards." 

Playing-cards were at this period in common use. 
Of their origin, there is some doubt. Some have 
supposed they were invented to amuse Charles VI., 
King of France, as early as 1393. They are men- 
tioned at nearly the same date in the laws of both 
England and Spain. 

The first cards made 4 were doubtless painted with 
a stencil ; that is, a piece of pasteboard or thin 
metal plate perforated with holes in the shape of 
the figures desired. The stencil being placed over 
paper, the color is applied with a brush, leaving the 
shape of the figures underneath. As they were so 



ANCIENT CUTS. 17 

common and so cheap, it has been thought that the 
outline must have been made by some rude form of 
wood-engraving. There is proof that cards were 
printed before the middle of the fifteenth century ; 
for there is a petition extant from the Venetian 
painters to their magistracy, dated 1441, setting 
forth that the art and mystery of card-making and 
of printing figures, which was practiced in Venice, 
had fallen into decay, because of the large quantity 
of playing-cards and colored printed figures which 
were brought into the city. What foreigners 
brought them to Venice ? Evidently the Ger- 
mans ; for they were the chief card-makers of the 
time. A wood-engraver is still called, in Germany, 
Formschneider^ meaning figure-cutter ; and this 
name is found in the town-books of Nuremburg as 
early as 1441. 

As a specimen of the early cards, — which were 
very rude, — we have here the Knave of Bells. 

Perhaps some may think Knave a good name 
for the article, in view of the characters who some- 
times "play cards." But this word had not al- 
ways the same meaning. Originally, it signified a 
boy or young man, then a servant, and lastly a 
roo-ue. 

" An unsightly figure," said Anna, as she exam- 
ined the one in her husband's hand, " and not to be 
compared to our St. Christopher," — glancing at the 



18 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

wall opposite, where hung a picture of the saint, — 
"which was made with a pen ! " 

" Nay, it was made from an engraved block, like 
the card," said Gutenberg. 

" Was our picture made in that manner ? " 




The Knave of Bells. 



eagerly asked the wife. ci What an excellent art, 
since it keepeth before as the memory of the saints! 
The good St. Christopher!" she exclaimed, and 
with clasped hands for a moment gazed devoutly at 



PICTURE OF A SAINT. 19 

the picture, — a curious wood -cut, representing the 
legendary saint in the act of carrying the infant 
Jesus across the sea ; beneath, was the date, 1428. 
The art of engraving had doubtless existed long 
before, but this is the only positive proof that wood- 
engraving was used in devotional pictures at that 
early period. Some years after, the art made an 
onward and most important step, — an inscription 
being added to this picture ; and the famous block- 
books, complete with cuts and written explanations, 
appeared. 

The picture Anna so earnestly regarded, was one 
of the later-date impressions, accompanied with a 
Latin legend. It was of folio size, and colored, like 
playing-cards. Beneath was the inscription, or le- 
gend : — 

Cfmstofovf focfem Trfe qua cumque tuerfs 
Ella nempe Hie morte mala noti mortem. 

H&fllesfmo cccc° rr° terno. 

" We almost worshipped that picture in my fa- 
ther's house," said Anna; " but prithee tell me the 
meaning of the inscription ; there was none upon 
ours." 

" It saith," explained Gutenberg, " that one can- 
not be overtaken by evil, or die, on the day that he 
looks upon the face of this saint." 

" Since that is true, we do well to gaze upon the 
picture early and late," remarked the wife. 



20 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" i revere the saint," returned Gutenberg, smil- 
ing, " but am free to confess that I do not see how 
there can be any power to shield one from harm in 
simply looking at his picture. The good saint him- 
self had not so easy a path to prosperity." 

" Pray tell me of him," said she ; " I do not re- 
member to have heard the story since, when a little 
child, I s.at upon my father's knee." 

u I will even tell it to thee," answered Guten- 
berg, " as I heard it in my childhood. 

" Offerus, as he w r as called, was a giant soldier ; 
a heathen, who lived in the land of Canaan. He 
had a body twelve ells long. He did not like to 
obey, but to command. He did not care what 
harm he did to others, but lived a wild life, attack- 
ing and plundering all who came in his way. He 
only wished for one thing : to sell his services to 
the mightiest. And he first enraged in the service 
of the Emperor, — having heard in those days that 
he was the head of Christendom, — yet was not 
bound by any promise. Thereupon he went with 
the Emperor through all the land, and the Emperor 
was delighted with him. All the soldiers in the 
combat were miserable, helpless creatures compared 
with Offerus, with hid Samson strength, giant chest, 
and mighty lists. Once, at even-tide, they pitched 
the tents near a forest, when the Emperor, in the 
midst of his eating and drinking and the singing of 



LEGEND. 21 

the minstrel, bade Offerus and his comrades beware 
of the wicked fiend who was said often to haunt the 
forest with great rage and fury, adding, c Let alone 
the chase in this forest; for in filling thy larder, 
thou mightest harm thy soul.' Then Offerus said, 
1 I will enter the service of this lord, w T ho is 
mightier than you,' and thereupon took his de- 
parture, and strode off cheerily into the thickest 
depths of the forest. There on a coal black horse 
he saw a pitch-black rider, who rode at him furi- 
ously, and sought to bind him with solemn promises. 
But Offerus said, ; We shall see ! ' However, one 
day, as they went together through the kingdoms 
of the world, along the high road three tall crosses 
stood before them. The middle cross so appalled 
Satan that he shrunk away, saying, ; The Son of 
Mary, the Lord Christ, now exercises great power.' 
Said Offerus, c Now will I seek further for the 
mightiest, whom only I will serve,' and asking 
every traveller he met where he dwelt. But alas ! 
few have Him in their hearts, and no one could tell, 
until he was sent by a pious old hermit to a good 
priest, who showed him plainly the path of faith, 
and told him he must fast and pray, as John the 
Baptist did of old in the wilderness. But that ad- 
vice was not to the giant's liking ; wherefore the 
prior said, ' Give yourself up heartily to achieve 
some good work. See, there flows a mighty river, 



22 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

which hinders pilgrims on their way to Rome ; it 
has neither ford nor bridge : carry the faithful over 
on thy back.' 'Ah, I have strength for that!' 
said Offerus. ' If I can please the Saviour in that 
way, willingly will I carry the travellers to and fro.' 
And thereupon he built a hut of reeds, and dwelt 
amono; the water-rats and beavers on the river's 
brink, carrying pilgrims over the river cheerfully, 
like a camel or an elephant. But if any one offered 
him ferry-money, he said, c I labor for eternal life ! ' 
And when now, after many years, Offerus's hair 
had grown white, one stormy night a plaintive little 
voice called to him, ' Dear, good, tall Offerus, carry 
me across.' Offerus was tired and sleepy ; but he 
thought faithfully of Jesus Christ, and with weary 
arms seizing the pine-trunk which was his staff 
when the floods swelled high, he waded through 
the water, but saw no pilgrim there ; so he thought, 
8 1 was dreaming,' and went back and lay down to 
sleep. Again came the little voice, plaintive and 
touching, ' Offerus, good, dear, great, tall Offerus, 
cany me across.' Patiently the old giant crossed 
the river again ; but neither man nor mouse was to 
be seen; and he went back again, and fell asleep, 
when once more came the little voice, clear, and 

plaintive, and imploring, "Good, dear, giant Of- 
ferus, carry nie aero—."' r [ ne third time he seized 
his pine-stem, and went through the cold river. 



LEGEND. 23 

This time he found a tender, fair little boy, with 
golden hair. In his left hand was the standard of 
the Lamb ; in his right, the globe. He looked at 
the giant with eyes full of love and trust, and Of- 
ferus lifted him up with two fingers ; but when he 
entered the river, the little child weighed on him 
like a ton. Heavier and heavier grew the weight, 
until the water almost reached his chin ; great drops 
of sweat stood on his brow, and he had nearly sunk 
in the stream with the little one. However, he strug- 
gled through, and, tottering to the other side, set 
the child gently down on the bank, and said, ; My 
little Lord, prithee, come not this way again, for 
scarcely have I escaped this time with life.' But 
the fair child baptized OfFerus on the spot, and said 
to him, ' Know, all thy sins are forgiven ; and, al- 
though thy limbs tottered, fear not, nor marvel, but 
rejoice ; thou hast carried the Saviour of the world ! 
For a token, plant thy pine -trunk, so long dead and 
leafless, in the earth ; to-morrow it shall shoot out 
ore en twio*s. And henceforth thou shalt not be 
called OfFerus, but Christopher.' Then Christo- 
pher folded his arms, and prayed, and said, ' I feel 
my end draws nigh. My limbs tremble ; my 
strength fails ; and God has forgiven me all my 
sins.' Thereupon the child vanished in light ; and 
Christopher set his staff in the earth. And so, on 
the morrow, it shot out green leaves and red bios- 



24 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

soms, like an almond. And three days afterwards 
the angels carried Christopher to Paradise." 

Anna's eyes swam in tears as Gutenburg finished 
his graphic and touching rehearsal, and she said, 
" A most hopeful history. May you, my husband, 
worthily achieve some good work, like St. Christo- 
pher ! " 

" Aye, dear ; and, God helping me I will do 
something : the world is full of useful labor, which 
calleth for willing hearts and hands. And the 
Lord Christ meeteth with his blessing the patient 
laborers who faint not." 

" I can never think," said the wife, " of equaling 
St. Christopher or thee in good works, since I am 
neither strong nor wise ; but I will even do what I 
can, and help thee bear thy burdens. But it may 
be the gentle Christ will freely give me eternal life, 
since I have no means to purchase it." 

" Aye, Anna, that would be so like Him : and 
to me also, for I am no saint, and dare not hope to 
be." 

" But I value the picture the more since your 
recital," said Anna. " Even if it cannot, as you 
think, preserve as from eyil, it can incite us to per- 
severe in doing well.' 5 

w - Ave, dear, " rejoined ( rutenberg, Wk and devotional 
pictures like this arc much to be prized; they in 
sonic sort fill the place of hooks, which arc so rare 



BIBLE FOR THE POOR. 25 

and costly. But valuable as this picture is, I found 
it surpassed in the Cathedral. Dost remember I 
carried thither the jewels which the Abbot employed 
me to polish ? He took me into the library, and 
showed me books of engraved pictures, each far 
more excellent than our ' St. Christopher.' These 
books were the ' Ars Memorandi,' ' Ars Moriendi, ' 
and ' Biblia Pauperum/ which last consists of forty 
pictures, with written explanations." 

" Truly a marvel, — a book of pictures! And 
what do they signify ? " 

" The ' Biblia Pauperum,' or 4 Bible for the Poor,' 
is a history or series of sketches from the Old and 
New Testaments ; it is sometimes so called instead 
of the name I first mentioned." 

" Aye, I remember to have heard of it, but would 
fain learn more about it." 

" Its forty pictures were made by impressing pa- 
per with engraved blocks, as in the ' St. Christo- 
pher.' The color is brown, the pictures are placed 
opposite each other, and the blank backs are pasted 
together into one strong leaf." 

" Pray, how large are the pictures ? " and her in- 
terest growing with her husband's recital, she quite 
forgot the work on which she was engaged, as he 
went on to say, — 

" They are each ten inches high and seven or 
eight inches wide, and consist of three pictures 



26 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

which are separated by lines ; and, moreover, there 
are four half-length figures of prophets, two above 
and two below the larger pictures. Latin inscrip- 
tions are on each side of the upper figures, also 
verses in rhyme on each side of the lower, and 
other sentences on labels at the bottom of the 
whole." 

" Wonderful truly ! and what more ? " 

64 The middle pictures are from the New Testa- 
ment, the others from the Old ; and the latter in 
some way allude to or explain the former." 

" But what interests me most in this book," added 
Gutenberg, " is the fact that it is printed from 
blocks, like the ' St. Christopher.' " 

" Dost thou truly think so ? Art thou well 
advised that it is not the handicraft of a skillful 
scribe ? " 

" Assuredly I am ; it was not made with a pen, 
but with the engraved blocks, which are to be 
chosen rather than the slower mode of copying, 
since beino; once for all engraved, a number of 
books can be imprinted as easily as one." 

" Aye," returned Anna, " and they will be 
cheaper than the works written out by the scribes, 
and still br so dear that whoever maketh them must 
become enriched by their sale. If thou art taken 

with this tide, it will lead thee on to fortune. Thou 

art ingenious ; and canst thou not make a c Biblia 
Pauperum ? ' M 



A SECRET DISCOVERED. 27 

" A ' Biblia Pauperum ! ' Little wife, thou must 
be dreaming." And Gutenberg; saw that she had 
penetrated his secret. 

" But couldst thou not ? " she persisted archly ; 
" thou art so wise at devising things difficult to be 
accomplished." 

Gutenberg laughed, saying, " I will even bethink 
me of it when nothing of more service can be 
done." 

But although the suggestion of Anna had been 
treated as a new and impracticable idea, it was one, 
as she had divined, that Gutenberg was revolv- 
ing ; and seizing the first leisure hour, he com- 
menced engraving a block, choosing for his subject 
as simplest and nearest at hand, one of the images 
of the playing cards. 

Anna's estimate of Gutenberg was just. He had 
a passion for mechanical studies ; and history tells 
us that " he invented many wonderful arts," some 
of which were connected with his occupation. Not 
content with following the beaten track, his mind 
was fertile in expedients for saving labor and per- 
fecting his work. He devised ways to improve the 
process of polishing stones and mirrors ; and these 
new methods were ranked by the observing among 
his " arts." These " arts " were stepping-stones to 
something better and higher — to the crowning dis- 
covery of his life. The great art could only be 



28 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



reached by patiently ascending to it through many 
lower steps of toil and invention. " It seems," says 
one, " that every advancement of humanity is pur- 
chased with tears, and that suffering is the fatal law 
of all great beginnings." 

But how eventful the path he trod, we shall see 
as we progress. 





ARMED KNIGHT. 

(Specimen of early engraving.) 




III. 



Ancient Books and their Materials. — Sculptures. — Printing in 
China. — Use of Metals. — Seal. — Stencils. — Waxen Tablets. 
— Bark, Leaves, Shells. — Papyrus. — Parchments. — Paper. — 
Palimpsests* — Books written by Hand. — The Scriptorium. — 
Copyists and their Habits. — Illuminations. — Character of An- 
cient Books. — Scarcity and Costliness of Books. — Kichard de 
Bury and Library. — Statutes of St. Mary's College. — Books 
Chained. — Abundance of Books in Modern Times. 

EAVING Gutenberg occupied with his ex- 
-*-^ pertinent, let us glance briefly at the books of 
that day, and the modes in which they were made 
and given to the world. 

The most ancient materials used for recording 
events were bricks, tiles, shells, and tables of stone. 
The modes of writing on these different substances 
were various. The tiles and brick were impressed 
with a stamp when in a soft state ; the shells and 
tablets of stone were etched or graven, the figures 
or characters being cut in their surface, and in some 
cases also stained with various colors. It was by 
the ancient art of stamping that the walls, palaces, 
and towers of Babvlon were covered with hiero- 



30 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



glyphies, which have but recently been brought to 
light from under the immense mounds of Mesopo- 
tamia by Layard and other explorers. 




a 



igJil 

'Ipse 
■R 

Hi 



Babylonian Brick. 

The patriarch Job, who is supposed to have lived 
about 2,300 years after the creation, exclaimed, " O 
that my words were now written ! O that they 
were printed in a book ! that they were graven 
with an iron pen, and hid in the rock forever I " 
Stung with the unjust accusation of his friends, lie 
desires to record his words that the generations fol- 
lowing might see the justice of his cause. The 
English translation lias given the allusion to print- 
ing to the text, the original word signifying rather 



PRINTING IN CHINA. 31 

to ingrave on a plate, which was doubtless the only 
printing known to Job. 

Montfaugon purchased at Rome in 1699 an an- 
cient book entirely composed of lead. It was about 
four inches long and three inches wide ; and not only 
were the two pieces that formed the cover, and the 
leaves, six in number, of lead, but also the stick in- 
serted through the rings to hold the leaves together, 
as well as the hina-es and nails. It contained fig- 
ures of Egyptian idols, and unintelligible writing. 

China, our ancestor in invention, from remote ages 
had a kind of stereotyping or printing. It was not, 
however, as some have supposed, like our printing, 
phonetic, or the expression of sound, but, like the 
Egyptian, hieroglyphical ; being purely of an arti- 
ficial structure, denoting every idea by its appropri- 
ate sign without any relation to the utterance, and 
speaking to the eye like the numerical ciphers of 
the Europeans, which every one understands and 
utters in his own way. And like most other na- 
tions of antiquity, the Chinese were content to re- 
main without alphabetical writing. It is, however, 
due to the Chinese to add, that they led the way in 
making good printing-paper. When they invented 
making it, does not appear, some affirming that 
they had the use of it from time immemorial ; oth- 
ers that they first discovered it in the second cen- 
tury of the Christian era. 



32 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Brass, as more durable, was used for inscriptions 
designed to last the longest, such as treaties, laws, 
and alliances. Seals, also, were used by the an- 
cients for impressing soft substances. In the Brit- 
ish Museum there is a stamp of metal with raised 
letters. On the back of it is a ring, enabling the 
owner to wear it as a signet ; his name, Caius Ju- 
lius Caecilius Hermias, being engraved in reversed 
letters upon it. 



CICAECILT 
HERMIAE.SN. 



Expanded according to the modern practice, the 



signet reads : — 

C. I. CECILII IIERMLE SIGNUM. 

Caii Julii Ccecilii Hermias Signv.m. 

This seal of Hermias was intended for stamping 
parchment with ink, as is shown by the fact that the 
roughness of the surface below the letters unfits it 
for stamping any soft substance into which it would 
sink, as into wax. If rubbed witli printers' ink and 
pressed upon paper, it prints very well. Thus the 
Seed of this noble art was among the Romans. 
With a block of wood covered with raised letters, 
they might have printed a page, as well as a single 
name. But they were suffered to grope their way 
from age to age blindfolded to the art of which 
they had the clew. 'They almost grasped the great 
discovery, unconscious of the prize. 



WAXEN TABLETS. 33 

Quintilian, speaking of the education of youth, 
says, " When the boy has begun to trace the forms 
of the letters, it will be useful for him to have the 
letters of the tablet engraved, that through them, as 
through furrows, he may draw his style. For thus 
he will neither make mistakes, being prevented by 
the edges on both sides, nor will he be able to go 
beyond the proper bound ; and by tracing quickly 
and frequently certain forms, he will strengthen his 
joints, and will not need the assistance of some one 
to put his hand above his own, and guide it." Here 
we find that the old Romans knew something of the 
art of stenciling. 

The Emperor Justin, who lived in the sixth cen- 
tury, could not write, and, to avoid the shame of 
making only a mark for his name, caused holes to 
be bored through a tablet in the shape of the first 
four letters of his name. Through these holes he 
traced the letters in red ink. Theodoric, King of 
the Ostrogoths, it is said, wrote his name through 
a gold plate, in the same manner. 

Tablets, or little tables of wood, as well as of 
metal, came at length to take the place of stone 
tables. The thin wooden tables were sometimes 
covered with wax, which was written upon with a 
style, or ivory pencil. These were so much like 
tracing in the sand, as soon to be laid aside, and 
the smooth, inner bark of trees, called liber in the 

3 



34 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Latin, was used instead ; also the leaves of the 
palm-tree, cloths of cotton and linen, the intestines 
and skins of animals, and the backs of tortoises. 
We derive onr name book from the Danish bog, the 
beech-tree, since that was Msed to engrave on in 
Denmark, because of its abundance. 

The Egyptians very early employed a broad- 
leafed rush growing on the banks of the Nile, as a 
material upon which to write. This was the papy- 
rus, a word which has given its name to our modern 
paper. Large bundles of papyrus manuscripts, cov- 
ered with hieroglyphics, have been found in the an- 
cient tombs and temples of that country, some of 
which are capable of being deciphered at the pres- 
ent day. 

Parchment, which is the prepared skins of ani- 
mals, came into use b. c. 250. It was so called 
from Pergamus (membrana p erg amea), whose king, 
Eumenes, seeking to collect a library which should 
vie with that of Alexandria, and being debarred a 
supply of papyrus by the jealousy of the Ptolemies, 
had recourse to this substitute. After the eighth 
century, parchment generally took the place of 
papyrus. 

Ancient books were not commonly disposed in a 
square form, as with us, but were rolled up. Hence 
the word volume, signifying a roll. 

Paper from co*tton and linen rags began, it is 



PALIMPSESTS. 35 

thought, to be made as early as the ninth century. 
For several centuries, however, the manufacture 
was so scanty as to increase very little the facilities 
for copying. Gradually, it became more plentiful, 
and writing material of small cost laid the founda- 
tion for that cheap and expeditious mode of copying 
which we call printing. 

In the age when parchment was used, it was often 
difficult to be obtained ; and it became common to 
erase the original writing from a manuscript and 
trace another upon it. A parchment thus used 
was called palimpsest, which means " twice prepared 
for writing." Thus, many valuable works were 
destroyed to make way for newer, and, in some 
cases, less important ones. Happily we live in a 
time when we have no occasion to destroy one 
library to produce another. 

It seems strange, too, that a transcriber familiar 
with the labor of copying would not be deterred by 
his love of learning from putting even one book out 
of existence. But necessity knew no law ; and the 
writer, deeming his own work to possess greater 
utility, sacrificed another to make room for it, — to 
such straits were the scribes sometimes brought for 
the lack of writing material. Struggling to express 
thought, there was no room to put it down. Written 
language, scarcely second to spoken language, had 
almost perished ; and had the art of printing been 



36 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

invented before paper was known, it would have 
been comparatively useless. 

The writing and rewriting on parchment, as it 
was often done two or three times, has recently led 
learned men to make these ancient parchments a 
study ; and they have thus deciphered or read the 
last writing, then, effacing that, have deciphered 
the second, and, effacing that, have read the first, — 
often the most valuable, — and in this way have 
brought to light lost works, and found out many 
important facts of history. 

The books of those early days were written out 
by hand, manuscripta ; and the profession of the 
copyist was one of the most numerous, honorable, 
and lucrative. Some booksellers employed great 
numbers of copyists, paying them salaries, and made 
their own livelihood on the profits of selling the 
works thus copied. There were in Rome, and in 
some of the great cities of Greece and of Asia, 
particular places where such works were sold. The 
rich also sometimes had slaves, prized more highly 
and treated more familiarly than other slaves, who 
were devoted by them to copying the works of 
antiquity and of their time, for their libraries. 
Government, too, employed a great many copyists 
for its edicts, and orators employed them in tran- 
scribing their discourses. Later, the eunuchs copied 
at Byzantium the chief works of Greek, Latin, and 



BOOKS WRITTEN BY HAND. 



37 



Hebrew antiquity. Finally, there were the monks, 
who, in the retirement of the monasteries, gave their 
time very much to the multiplication of books by 
the slow process of writing. 

In every great religious house, or abbey, there 
was an apartment called the scriptorium, or writing- 
room, where boys and young men were employed 
from morning till night in copying the singing-books 
of the choir, and the less valuable books of the 
library. Only a few of the monks copied in this 
large apartment, enough to give directions, and 
keep order among the boys and novices. Most of 
the " Holy Fathers," as they chose to be styled, 
spent their time in the cells, transcribing Bibles and 
other valuable works. 

A monk copying. He has 
a cowl on his head, and wears 
the priest's long gown with 
flowing sleeves. His waist 
=C| is girt with a belt ; and he 
sits bolt upright, or slightly 
leans forward in the most 
perpendicular of arm-chairs, 
which seems to be joined to 
the desk of his cell. How 
curiously he holds his quill and pointed ferule ! His 
prior is cautious and methodical ; for he has chained 
the manuscript from which the monk is copying tc 




38 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

the wall, as if experience had taught him that he 
cannot overmuch trust the brothers. 

An author of those times would make a similar 
appearance, save that there would be no book before 
him, unless for reference. 

Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, in his ei Phi- 
lobiblion," a treatise on the love of books, written 
by him in Latin in 1344, gives a good picture of the 
transcriber, or copyist of the monastery. He says : 
u As it is necessary for a State to provide military 
arms, and prepare plentiful stores of provisions for 
soldiers who are about to fight, so it is evidently 
worth the labor of the Church to fortify itself against 
the attacks of pagans and heretics with a multitude 
of sound books. But, because everything that is 
of use to mortals decays through lapse of time, it 
is necessary for volumes corroded by age to be re- 
stored by new successors, that books may not cease 
to exist. Hence it is that Ecclesiastes truly says, 
in the 12th chapter, 'There is no end of making 
many books.' For, as the bodies of books decay, 
so a remedy is found out by the prudence of clerks, 
by which a holy book paying the debt of nature 
[i. e., dying] may have one succeed it, and a seed 
may be raised up like to the most holy deceased, and 
that Baying of Ecclesiastes, chapter thirtieth, be 
verified : J The father is dead, and as it were not 
dead, for lie hath left behind him a son like unto 
himself.' M 



COPYISTS AND THEIR HABITS. 39 

Then he goes on to upbraid the priests for soiling 
books, giving us rather an unfavorable impression 
concerning the habits of the monks. One would 
suppose that they could command the leisure to keep 
clean. The Bishop just quoted deplores "the un- 
washed hands, the dirty nails, the greasy elbows 
leaning upou the volume, the munching of fruit and 
cheese over the open leaves, which were the marks 
of careless and idle readers," and suggestive also, 
some would say, of lack of culture and refinement, 
and even that their religion was of a low type ; else 
would it not, at least, have produced the virtue 
which is next to godliness ? 

Then follow sound and sensible directions how to 
use books. " Let there be a mature decorum in 
opening and closing of volumes, that they may 
neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor 
thrown aside after use without being duly closed." 

Says an English writer : " When a volume was 
at last produced in fair parchment, or vellum, after 
the arduous labor of years, it was covered with im- 
mensely thick lids of wood and leather, studded 
with large nails, and curiously clasped, and was 
studiously preserved from the common gaze on the 
shelves of the monastic library. 

" The splendid volumes thus made, bore evidence, 
however, not only of persevering industry, but of 
great ingenuity ; the letters at the beginning of 



40 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

each chapter or section being adorned with curious 
devices. Frequently, too, a painting called an illu- 
mination was introduced radiant with gold, crimson, 
and azure. But no vulgar or unpriestly eyes looked 
on their contents, unless, indeed, we except kings 
and princes ; they were only unclasped on days of 
solemnity, by the abbot or the prior, and then re- 
stored, like the jewels of the priesthood, to their 
dusty cases." 

Montgomery says, " The readers of those days 
were rather gluttons than epicures in their taste for 
literature," canonizing all books because they were 
books, as children eulogize their toys without notic- 
ing the quality. " To say all that could be said 
on any theme, whether in verse or prose, was the 
fashion of the times ; and as few read but those who 
were devoted to reading by an irresistible passion 
or professional necessity, and few wrote but those 
who were equally impelled by an inveterate instinct, 
great books were the natural produce of the latter, 
who knew not how to make little ones ; and great 
books only could appease the voracity of the former. 
Great books, therefore, were both the fruits and the 
proofs of the ignorance of the age. They were 
mostly composed ill the gloom and torpor of the 
cloister, and it almost required a human life to read 
the works of an author of this description, because 
it was nearly as easy to compound as to digest such 



SCARCITY AND COSTLINESS OF BOOKS. 41 

crudities.' ' These labors of the learned could not 
of course interest the common people, as they could 
neither understand nor buy them. These were 
books without meaning, — with so little logic and 
connection that the more one read, the deeper he 
got into the maze or tangled mass of words. " And 
the lucubrations through a thousand years, of many 
a noble, many a lovely mind, which only wanted 
better direction how to unfold its energies or dis- 
play its graces to benefit or delight mankind, were 
but passing meteors, that made visible the darkness 
out of which they rose, and into which they sank 
again to be hid forever." 

Nevertheless, we owe it to the monks to say that 
there were many good and learned men among 
them, and for much that is valuable in our libraries 
we can not thank them enough. We can never con- 
sult a concordance of the Bible without calling to 
mind that they first conceived the idea of such a 
work, and numbers of them, jointly laboring long 
and incessantly, nobly laid its foundations, on which 
others who came after raised the structure and 
reaped the glory. 

It will be readily inferred from what has been 
said that books in those times were scarce and 
costly. Only the rich could afford to have them, 
and they had but very few. The monasteries and 
universities had libraries, and occasionally one was 



42 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

found in the castles of the nobility. The Cathedral 
of Notre Dame, in Strasbourg, was famed for its 
splendid collection of five hundred volumes. The 
Countess of Anjou bought a book of Homilies, pay- 
ing for it two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, 
and the same quantity of rye and millet. Henry 
V., King of England, borrowed a book from the 
Countess of Westmoreland ; and not having re- 
turned it at his death, the Countess petitioned the 
Privy Council that it might be restored to her by 
an order under the privy seal, which was done with 
all formality. 

Richard de Bury, whom we have already men- 
tioned, had gathered in his life-time, by copying with 
his own hand and by purchase, a valuable library. 
In his will he bestowed a portion of it upon "a 
company of scholars residing in a hall at Oxford," 
and one of his chapters is headed " A Provident 
Arrangement by which Books may be lent to 
Strangers," meaning, by strangers, students of Ox- 
ford not belonging to that hall. 

This library, from which a book could not be 
borrowed without giving ample security, was finally 
given to Durham, now Trinity College, and con- 
tained more books than all the bishops of England 
had then in their possession. For many years after 
they were received they were kept in chests, under 
the custody of several scholars chosen for that pur- 



BOOKS CHAINED. 43 

pose. It was not till the reign of Henry IV. that a 
library was built in that college ; and then the books 
were taken out of the old sepulchral chests, and 
" were put into pews or studies and chained to 
them." In 1300, the library of Oxford consisted of 
a few tracts kept in a chest. 

¥////// 




Chained Bible. 

The statutes of St. Mary's College, Oxford, in the 
reign of Henry VI., furnish striking proof of the 
obstacles to study caused by a scarcity of books. 
"Let no scholar occupy a book in the library above 
one hour, or two hours at most, so that others shall 
be hindered from the use of the same." This re- 
veals quite a famine of books, but not so great as 
at a still earlier period of the Church, when one 
book was given out by the librarian to each of a 
religious fraternity at the beginning of Lent, to be 
read diligently during the year, and to be returned 
the following Lent. 

The old way of shutting up books in chests shows 
that they could not be often changed, for whenever 
one was wanted the whole pile must be disturbed. 



44 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

The next plan was to allow the books the privilege 
of light and air, but to chain them to desks and in 
cages, as if their keepers looked upon them literally 
as riches with wings ready to fly away. 

The following passage, malediction of some grim 
friar perhaps, was often written on the first leaf of a 
book : " Cursed be he who shall steal or tear out 
the leaves, or in any way injure this book." 

A milder and more modern couplet, is — 

" Steal not this book for fear of shame, 
For here you see the owner's name." 

Thus various were the devices from time to time 
to secure the possession of treasures more precious 
than gold. 

How different the state of things at this day ! 
Instead of being rare and expensive luxuries, books 
are abundant both in the homes of the rich and the 
poor. 





IV. 



An Important Step. — Engraving a Name. — Engraving Pic- 
tures. — Superstitions. — Difficulties overcome. — An Improve- 
ment. — Experiment and Progress. — A New Book. — Cheerful 
Thoughts. 



/~\NE day, a few weeks after the events in our 
^-^ second chapter, Gutenberg surprised his wife 
as she sat sewing by the window, saying, — 

" Behold some of my handicraft ! " showing her 
a number of cards. 

" Ah, and so you did not give up the project ? 
and you have succeeded so well ! One could not 
distinguish between these and the old ones, save 
that these are newer and fresher." 

" Nevertheless, this is but a step ; it availeth me 
little till I can frame letters, and impress them on 
vellum in like manner. It remains that I try thy 
name, my Anna. I cannot fail to engrave that name 
on wood, which hath been so long traced on my 
heart ! " And to his loving glance there beamed 
a happy light in her eyes, and her cheeks were 
aglow, as he betook him to writing her name on a 



46 THE ART OF PRINTING 

small wooden tablet. Cutting away the wood, ex- 
cept the writing lines, he left the letters raised, or 
in relief, and thus formed a stamp of his wife's 
name. Moistening it with ink, he placed a piece 
of paper over it, and, gently pressing it upon the 
letters, beheld, on lifting it, the word imprinted 
upon the paper. 



^mta 



We of this age of books and papers cannot enter 
into his emotions. But Anna could, and so the 
good man did not miss our sympathy. 

" Famously 'done ! " she exclaimed ; " it is the 
likeness of writing." 

Does this seem to us a curious commendation of 
printing, that it resembled writing ? But the manu- 
script letter was the only one known as yet, and it 
was natural to judge the result of the new experi- 
ment by its agreement with that letter. 

" Aye, I think myself it is not a failure," said Gu- 
tenberg ; " and I fancy it would not be difficult for 
me to produce a copy of that picture of ' St. Christo- 
pher,* I mean by suitable patience and perseverance." 

" But was not that done with a pen ? " 

"Nay: it appears so, but on examination I find 
that it was made with an engraved block;" and 
taking the rude print from the wall, he showed upon 



DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. 47 

the back of it the marks of the stylus, or burnisher 
by which it was rubbed upon the letters. " Rest as- 
sured from this that they were never produced by 
a pen, as in common writing." 

"Well, 5 ' returned the good wife, " it would truly 
be a pious act to multiply the picture of ' St. Chris- 
topher,' since a blessing will follow him who looketh 
upon it. I would fain have one in our sleeping-room, 
that my eyes may light upon it when I awake." 

Poor Anna ! she had already forgotten Guten- 
berg's sensible remark on a former occasion. Edu- 
cated to attach a superstitious value to sacred pic- 
tures, she still relied on them. This perverted 
trust, however, shows that she felt her need of 
the protection and favor of a higher than human 
power. 

Encouraged by the approbation of his wife, and 
nerved by that passion which urges the inventor 
onward in the pathway of discovery, Gutenberg un- 
dertook the task with alacrity. First he met the 
difficulty of finding wood suitable for engraving. 
Some kinds were too soft and porous, others liable 
to split. After many trials, he selected the wood of 
the apple-tree. This has a fine grain, is dense and 
compact, and sufficiently firm to bear the process 
of engraving;. In modern times box-wood is almost 
exclusively used in this art, as superior to all other 
species in the qualities required. It is sawed in 



48 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

blocks crosswise of the grain, and these polished 
and whitened, present a surface almost as smooth 
as ivory, and capable of receiving the finest touches 
of the pencil and the graving tool. 

Another difficulty in his course was the want of 
tools ; his unfailing genius came to the rescue, and 
tool after tool was contrived, until his tool-box 
showed an array of knives, saws, chisels, and grav- 
ers of various patterns, each one in its turn having 
been duly admired by the pair of bright eyes that 
followed his progress. 

At first Gutenberg drew the portrait of the saint 
and the inscriptions accompanying it on the same 
block ; but in later experiments he hit upon the 
idea of having them on separate pieces, the differ- 
ent blocks being nicely fitted together in printing. 
This was an onward step, which he viewed with 
satisfaction. 

" These movable blocks will be of service," said 
he to Anna ; " for I can complete the picture as well 
as the letters better in this way, and, when desira- 
ble, can embellish the writing with ink of another 
color. 

At length, when the " St. Christopher " appeared, 
printed from the improved block, Anna exclaimed 
that it was far better than the old one. 

" Yes," replied Gutenberg, "but I perceive that 
it is not perfect. No picture ('an be properly ex- 



EXPERIMENT AND PROGRESS. 49 

ecuted without thicker ink. This flows too read- 
ily, and with all my care I can scarcely avoid blot- 
ting." 

It required many experiments and much patience 
to surmount this difficulty of the ink. He found 
finally that a preparation of oil would best serve his 
purpose. The color might be varied according to 
the ingredients used. In the earliest works which 
have come down to us, it is of a darkish brown, 
and appears to have been made of umber. This 
was chosen probably in imitation of the old draw- 
ings which served as copies. A mixture of lamp- 
black with oil gives a black ink ; and this is substan- 
tially the composition of printer's ink at the present 
day. 

As Gutenberg experimented, Anna watched his 
progress with excited interest. When he had suc- 
ceeded in preparing an ink of suitable quality, she 
saw that he needed some means of spreading it 
evenly upon the block. 

" Now indeed thou canst aid me," said he ; " stuff 
and sew this piece of sheep- skin, while I prepare 
the paper for the impressions." The nimbly flying 
fingers soon completed the task ; and when Guten- 
berg had added a handle to the ball, the first print- 
er's dabber was ready. " One more servant of my 
art," Gutenberg pleasantly said as he dipped it in 
the ink which he had ground upon a slab, and ap- 



50 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

plied it to a block. He then laid the paper upon 
it, and, with the polished handle of one of his grav- 
ing tools, carefully smoothed and pressed it upon 
the raised portions of the block, — both picture and 
its letters. He then cautiously removed it, and 
both viewed the result with joyful emotions. 

" The new ink works marvelously ! " said the 
inventor. 

" And this print even surpasses your first at- 
tempt ! " 

" Yes, and I value it the more for the labor and 
contrivance it has cost me." 

" Now I shall want a c St. Christopher ' in every 
room," said Anna ; " it will be like having more 
good people in the house, and our lives will be in- 
spired by the memory of what they have done." 

" But what am I to do ? " rejoined Gutenberg. 
" I cannot afford the time and money to occupy 
myself in making pictures, unless it can also be 
turned to some pecuniary advantage." 

" And is there no way of acquiring money from 
them?" 

"Not at present. I have, however, made an im- 
provement on the pictures ; they will <n*ace our 
humble home, and it may l)e that I can make them 
Useful to others/' 

u Yes, for whoever seetb them will want one." 

" And l»c willing to pay for it ? " 



CHEERFUL THOUGHTS. 51 

" Aye, why not ? " 

" We shall see. Thou hast confidence in my 
experiments." 

" Ah, indeed have I ; since I perceive that thou 
hast the power of devising wonderful arts ! " 

Thus cheerily did the lapidary's wife encourage 
him, admiring his work, suggesting the bright 
side of affairs, then tripping out into the yard to 
console the pigeons with seeds, to water her flowers, 
and train the wild-growing climbers within bounds, 
her heart the mean while full of her husband's en- 
terprise ; and she murmured to herself, — 

" John will succeed, and we shall be delivered 
from our trouble." 





V. 



Pecuniary Troubles. — An Expedient.. — Disappointment. — The 
Jewels. — A Sale. — Apprentices. — Yisit to the Cathedral. — 
A New Enterprise 



/^i UTENBERG'S gratifying success was not de- 
^-^ void of trial, as has been hinted. In his hasty 
flight from Mentz, he had little money with him. 
and years of embarrassment followed, despite his 
diligence in business and economy. His mother's 
remittances had been carefully husbanded ; but since 
engaging in block-printing, this store had wasted 
away. 

How could he retrieve his losses, and gain means 
to bring out other discoveries ? He revolved the 
matter while Anna slept, and, rising with early 
dawn, took impressions of the " St. Christopher," 
At breakfast he told his wife of his purpose to sell 
them to his neighbors. She warmly approved, and 
offered to arrange them in the shop, greatly to the 
relief of Gutenberg, who answered with emotion, 



DISAPPOINTMENT. 53 

" So thoughtful of thee, my Anna ; and our neces- 
sity urgeth speedy sales." 

" Aye, they shall beautify the shop," said the lit- 
tle lady as she arranged the cuts, placing one here, 
another there, and viewing the effect of the light, 
and hied her to the adjoining room, just when Mrs. 
Anna Schultheiss stepped into the shop on her way 
home from market. Her dowry jewels were being 
reset, and she was anxious to get them. 

"My jewels not done yet!" she exclaimed, 
" Ah, indeed, master, and how can I go to the mar- 
riage-feast, wanting them? " 

"Be content, mistress," replied Gutenberg; 
"thou shall have them at sunset." 

" Thanks, good master ; but what pictures are 
these ? " glancing around the room as she spoke. 
As he passed one for her inspection, she cried : 
" Mirabile ! the good saint ! See him bearing the 
infant Jesus over the water. How could the child 
have forded the stream without him ? Wrap the pic- 
ture nicely, and I will take it home with me. My 
husband is a formschneider, and thou mayst need his 
aid." Gutenberg crimsoned, but gave her the cut on 
her own terms, and she bore it away with delight. 

When next a neighbor called, and after admiring 
the prints, purchased one, the inventor breathed 
more freely ; and the lively sound of his graving 
tools soon indicated how greatly encouragement 
lightened his toil. 



54 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Others, however, calling to purchase gems, chose 
the pictures. At the evening meal Anna was radi- 
ant, and congratulated her husband that the pictures 
found a ready sale. 

" Nevertheless, I have lost money to-day," re- 
plied he, a little depressed. 

" Ah ! and how did it happen ? " 

" Those who purchased prints had purposed to 
buy gems, and a fair estimation makes me the loser. 
The pictures draw attention from my jewels and 
mirrors, and do not return an equivalent. I fear 
the two pursuits will so conflict as to prevent suc- 
cess with either ! " 

Anna was illy prepared for this intelligence, and 
urged, " But thou wilt do better when used to both 
labors. Moreover, I can aid thee. Did I not ar- 
range the cuts ? And when the wood-carrier ad- 
mired my print, did I not sell him one, and allow 
him to bring wood in payment ? " 

" Thou hast well earned a benediction," returned 
the husband, smiling. 

" When dost thou go to Notre Dame Cathedral ? " 
asked Anna. 

" When I shall have finished the Father's jewels. 
T must confess to thee, dear, as before, that in en- 
graving blocks I have lost ground in my trade." 

" Nevertheless," replied Anna, bent on dispelling 
his despondency, "it is a favorable omen that thy 



THE JEWELS.— A SALE. 55 

handicraft of pictures is of the saint that shieldeth 
from evil." 

By dint of close application, Gutenberg, having 
completed the Superior's jewels by noon of the 
next day, returned to his engraved blocks, and be- 
fore evening of the second day had given the finish- 
ing touch to several prints. Laden with jewels and 
pictures, he left the house, Anna wishing him God- 
speed, and watching him till the mass of vines, 
shrubbery, and apple-trees hid him from sight. 
The cloistered Cathedral was not far distant, yet 
the winding way which led there was quickly lost 
in the luxuriant foliage. 

On his arrival he was ushered into the library, 
which might be termed a scriptorium, or monks' 
writing-room, so many copyists there plied the pen. 
Having delivered the jewels, he showed his pic- 
tures. 

" Whose handicraft may this be ? " quoth a gray- 
headed friar. 

" The name of the artisan doth not appear," was 
the reply. 

" Where didst thou obtain them ? " asked 
another. 

" Suffer me to keep a little secret," replied Gu- 
tenberg, " which would not benefit thee if told." 

U I will purchase the entire lot," said the Abbot, 
after examining them. " They will grace the walls 
of the library, and tend to preserve us from evil." 



56 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Anna came running to meet Gutenberg as he re- 
turned, and was well pleased to learn of the sale. 

" And now," said she, " thou art in a fair way 
to get rich ! " But Gutenberg said, gravely, — 

" We must not forget that the steady gains of a 
regular business are more to be relied on than oc- 
casional successes in other pursuits." Yet Guten- 
'berg was himself loath to take this view, and turned 
reluctantly to his trade. 

Not long after, he was surprised one morning by 
the entrance of Andrew Dritzhn, an intelligent cit- 
izen of Strasbourg, stout and hale-looking, and about 
thirty-five years of age. Taking a seat, he wound 
through a long talk, and at last made known his er- 
rand, which was to ask that Gutenberg would allow 
him to come and learn his trade. The latter loved 
the quiet of his own thoughts too well to choose the 
presence of a workman in his shop. 

But when he considered that if he once had a 
good artisan in his employ, the jewel and mirror 
business could go on, and himself have more time 
for his printing researches, he decided to engage 
Dritzhn. But no sooner was Dritzhn in favor with 
his new employer than he introduced his friends 
Hielmati, whose brother was the first paper-maker 
in Strasbourg, and Riffe, who craved a like favor 
of being admitted to learn Gutenberg's trade. The 
shop now presented a busy scene with three ap- 



APPRENTICES. 57 

prentices, — Dritzhn, careful, plodding, ingenious, 
and eager to learn ; Riffe, mostly engaged on mir- 
rors, complacently catching glimpses of his own 
round visage as his work waxed bright ; and Hiel- 
man, polishing jewels and making himself generally 
useful. But what with the din of the wheel, saw, 
chisel, and polisher, the inventor had little time for 
thought. It was, " How shall I do this, Master Gu- 
tenberg ? " " What next, master ? " from morning 
till night ; and he could not command time to pur- 
sue his engraved blocks, as he had hoped. Yet it 
was necessary, for the purpose of disguising from 
his associates for a longer time the real object of his 
secret enterprise, to devote himself with them to 
many curious and secondary industries. There 
was "the cutting and fashioning of precious stones ; 
the polishing of Venetian glass to make mirrors ; 
cutting the mirrors into facettes or diamonds ; the 
encasing them in copper frames, which he enriched 
with figures of wood representing personages of 
fable and of the Bible." These mirrors were sold 
at the fair of Aix-la-Chapelle, and helped the funds 
of the association, as well as Gutenberg in the se- 
cret expenses destined to accomplish and perfect his 
invention. To secure the needed seclusion, he fit- 
ted up a room, and spent his evenings on the hidden 
art in the presence of Anna, after the workmen had 
left the front shop. 



58 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

For the purpose of selling " St. Christophers," 
he again visited Notre Dame ; and on his return, 
Anna's glance at his face assured her that he 
brought good news. 

" Ah," said he, " but it is not because I have re- 
turned with much money, although I may have 
done as well." And undoing a wrapper he pro- 
duced the " Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistae," 
or u History of St. John the Evangelist," which he 
had obtained in exchange for cuts. " What think 
you of this ? " said he. " See, it is written on vellum 
with illuminated initials, 1 and has sixty-three pages. 
And observe, it is copied with a pen : some patient 
monk has toiled over this many a weary day in his 
cell. But I have a plan which I think will be an 
improvement, which is to engrave it as I did the 
picture." 

" Engrave a book ! It would be delightful to have 
one made by thine own skill ! " 

" Yes, and when once the blocks are engraved 
for the book, — a block for a page, sixty-three blocks, 
I can impress a score of books as well as one copy." 

"And thou canst sell books as well as the 

1 Vellum. A finer kind of parchment or skin, rendered clear 
and white for writing. Illuminated initials. Capital letters, com- 
mencing a chapter or paragraph were said to l>e illuminated when 

made large and painted in colors; often being ornamented with 
delicate de\ ices of flowers, birds or animals. The monks were 
skilled in this adornment of hooks. 



A NEW ENTERPRISE. 59 

monks ! " cried Anna joyfully. " Neither wilt thou 
be shut up in a cloister a year to copy one small 
book ; but I wouldn't wonder when the blocks are 
prepared, if thou couldst make a book in a day, 
even saving time and earning money ! " 

" A likely matter truly ! but we must not build 
air-castles ! " Sage advice for him to give who 
was himself a castle-builder, as are all enthusiastic 
people, — may they never be less ; for what would 
be done in this work-a-day world without the health- 
fill stimulus of the illusions of hope ? 

A small table in the sitting-room was at evening 
a work-bench. It was neatly covered in the day- 
time, and Anna's work-box was on it. But the 
inventor found it necessary to seek entire seclusion 
for some of his processes, and secured, it is said, a 
fitting place in the ruins of the St. Arbogast Mon- 
astery, abandoned to the moles and the bats save 
the part which was inhabited by the poor people of 
the suburbs of Strasbourg ; and there, in a forsaken 
cloister, he established his secret study and work- 
shop, whither he withdrew whenever his presence 
could be spared from the front shop. Not even to 
Anna did he divulge his hidden work. She was 
content, knowing that in good time she would know 
the result. 

Evening came, and in the quiet home-room the 
inventor commenced engraving the first page of the 



60 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



" History of St. John," carefully tracing the letters 
on the smooth surface of the block, and imitating the 
most approved copyist's hand. As Anna watched 
him, she thought them perfect, and with good reason. 
Toil on, busy worker ! Glorious things will follow 
thy labor! 





VI. 



Unwelcome Visitors. — Unjust Demand. — A Compromise.— 
Secret Firm. — A Removal. — Teaching the Workmen. — 
Block Printing. — Success. 



PiAY after day Gutenberg busied himself with 
^-^ his associates in various labors, except at in- 
tervals, when he engraved blocks, enlivened by the 
sprightly presence of Anna, or pursued his experi- 
ments in the recesses of the monastery. 

" How famously you get on ! " said Anna, one 
evening, as she counted his pile of finished blocks 
while he wrought at his engraving. 

There was a knock ; and, in an instant, to the 
consternation of both, Dritzhn and Hielman opened 
the door, and, without ceremony, entered. Guten- 
berg was surprised with block and graving tools in 
hand, and the " Historia " open before him. 

" Ah ! what have we here ? " asked Dritzhn, step- 
ping up to him ; " something new in mystery ? " 

" Excuse me," replied the inventor, coloring, 
44 if I waive an explanation for the present." 



62 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" But," said Hielman, drawing nearer and speak- 
ing in excited tones, — for he was a close man in 
money matters, — " thou didst engage to teach us 
thy arts, if we would pay thee." 

" It is true," answered Gutenberg, " that I did 
covenant to show thee my arts of the lapidary and 
mirror business, but that agreement did not cover 
other arts which are only partly known to myself." 

" Be persuaded to do the fair thing, good master," 
said Dritzhn. 

" In paying thee," added Hielman, " we under- 
stood that thou wouldst teach us all thy arts. We 
want our money's worth." 

" I have found it necessary," observed Gutenberg, 
not appearing to notice the remark, " to be favored 
with quiet and seclusion in pursuing any new branch 
of business, and I cannot succeed in this unless it 
be kept a profound secret. Still money is needed 
to carry it on." 

This only made Dritzhn more eager to learn the 
nature of the enterprise ; and he answered, " If 
that be all, we can keep thy secret, furnish funds, 
and perhaps help thee in the work." 

Gutenberg, with many misgivings, finally decided 
to trust them, first obtaining from each a formal 
pledge of secrecy. Then producing his cards and 
cuts, he explained, step by step, the process of mak- 
ing them. His callers expressed great interest and 
admiration. 



A SECRET FIRM. 63 

" I can be of service in executing the figures," 
said Dritzhn, " as I am a draughtsman." 

" You could assist me in that direction," said 
the inventor ; " but I am now mostly engaged in 
engraving tablets for books." 

" Making books by engraving ! " exclaimed 
Dritzhn. " When will the marvels cease ? " 

" I have invented a way of imprinting books by 
a process unknown to any others. Only block 
picture-books with inscriptions have approached the 
idea." Gutenberg then showed the "Historia" on 
which he was working. 

" Master," cried Dritzhn in amazement, "a man 
of such genius will surely realize a fortune ! Why, 
it would take the wages of a common artisan two 
years to buy such a work ; and you have a large 
part of it done in a few weeks." But Hielman, 
afraid of new projects, was less sanguine. 

" This will succeed," urged Dritzhn aside to 
him, " and we shall want a share in it. Since also 
we know the secret, and have bound ourselves by 
an oath, we cannot honorably turn back. It only 
remains to aid Master Gutenberg to the extent of 
our power." Then turning to Gutenberg, he 
said, — 

" But will not this art do away with copying ? " 

"Not at once," replied Gutenberg. " But if 
the copyists should get a hint of what this inven- 



64 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

tion can do, they might seek to crush it. More- 
over, the art is only begun ; I learn something 
new day by day ; and I have confided my secret 
to you, that as a firm we may bring it to perfec- 
tion." 

The sequel of the interview was that a written 
contract was drawn up by Gutenberg, who was a 
ready writer, and signed by them all, binding the 
parties for the term of five years on two condi- 
tions : — 

First, that they pay Gutenberg the sum of two 
hundred and fifty florins ; one hundred immediately, 
and the remainder at a certain fixed period. Sec- 
ond, that if any one of the partners should die 
during the time of the copartnership, the sur- 
vivors should pay to his heirs the sum of one hun- 
dred florins, in consideration of which the effects 
should become the property of the surviving part- 
ners. 

Other items followed ; and, above all, the pro- 
foundest secrecy was enjoined. 

Business, however, went on as usual through the 
day ; and a customer chancing in Gutenberg's work- 
shop would not have dreamed of the existence of 
the secret firm to prosecute the new art. Dritzhn 
wrought as if ill dee]) thought ; but if at times he 
seemed to loiter, he made out his quota of work ere 
the day's decline. Hielman polished as usual on 



A REMOVAL. 65 

mirrors : and Riffe, although burdened with the 
secret, kept at work with his old cheerful whistle. 

When evening came, a second conference was 
held at the home-room of Gutenberg's house, when 
Riffe also took the oath of secrecy, and signed the 
contract. But Gutenberg was oppressed with fore- 
boding. Since his hidden occupation of the en- 
graved blocks had been discovered by Dritzhn and 
Hielman, he saw that others also might find it out. 
On mentioning his anxiety to the firm, Dritzhn at 
once replied that the business ought to be removed 
to a more retired place, and made offer of his own 
upper room. After examination, Gutenberg de- 
cided to make the change, and a part of the engrav- 
ing apparatus was forthwith carried to that place. 
In order, however, to cover appearances, and also 
meet expenses, it was judged best for Hielman and 
Riffe to continue the lapidary and mirror depart- 
ment, as usual, in the front shop, while Gutenberg 
and Dritzhn were to spend a portion of their time 
in engraving blocks in the upper room of the lat- 
ter, although some of the work was still done, as be- 
fore, at the inventor's cottage. This arrangement 
seemed necessary to make the twofold occupations 
thrive. Hielman and Riffe still needed much in- 
struction in gem and mirror polishing, and they had 
also the advantage of regular lessons in engraving, 
to which they were entitled by the articles of agree- 
ment. 5 



66 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Gutenberg's " Historia" was necessarily somewhat 
hindered, as his attention was much occupied with 
teaching Dritzhn in engraving blocks. As, how- 
ever, the latter had skill in drafting, he very readily 
caught the ideas indispensable to the art, — accu- 
racy in drawing the figure, and a careful manage- 
ment of the graver's tool in cutting away the block 
so as to leave the lines raised. Dritzhn made good 
progress in figure-cutting on card-engraving, which 
was the first lesson Gutenberg gave him ; but in 
attempting to engrave letters, he was not so skill- 
ful. 

" That department of the art can only be ac- 
quired by patience and labor," said Gutenberg to 
his pupil. " I therefore advise that you continue on 
the figures." 

Thus pleasantly they wrought together, Dritzhn 
on figures, and Gutenberg on letters, for he still 
pursued the " History of St. John." Hielman and 
Riffe were quite awkward as pupils in the art. In 
the first place, neither had any idea of drawing, and 
Gutenberg was under the necessity of teaching them 
the elements of that science ; then they could not 
read, and he must needs initiate them into the mys- 
teries of the alphabet. Anna came to the rescue, 
or poor Gutenberg would have despaired of mak- 
ing them engravers. She taught one his letters, 
while her husband instructed the other in drawing 



TEACHING THE WORKMEN. 67 

straight and curved lines. Anna, after a time, hit 
upon a short route to accomplish both together, and 
required her pupil to draw a letter as soon as he 
had learned it. In this way, what with the efforts 
of Gutenberg, and the suggestions of Anna, they 
soon made perceptible progress, and in due time 
were familiar with the alphabet, and could draw it 
passably well. While occupying most of their time 
with the lapidary and mirror business, they still 
gave several hours each day and evening to the 
new art. 

When Gutenberg advanced Riffe and Hielman 
to engraving the letters which he had drawn, they 
sadly blundered. 

" What a world of patience you had, master, 
when you worked through all this alone ! " said 
Hielman, showing his block, on which, after much 
painstaking, he had cut a Y in the shape of a well- 
sweep. 

" It is a wonder to me, master, how thou didst 
discover this art, when it is such a labor for us to 
learn it ! " exclaimed Riffe ; and he held up a B 
which looked more like a camel. 

" There's nothing like trying," said Gutenberg 
pleasantly, as he went through the process of draw- 
ing another letter for each. It was, however, a 
source of great annoyance to him to have so many 
blocks ruined by his workmen ; and he bethought 



68 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

him of a way to prevent this waste, which was to 
give them small strips of wood of little value, on 
which to make their experiments in cutting letters, 
which may have led to the idea of movable type. 
Meanwhile, as he had time, he progressed with his 
book. By dint of patient plodding, Dritzhn finished 
the figures of the work, when Gutenberg had ac- 
complished the more toilsome labor of graving let- 
ters, page by page. 

The blocks of the "Historia" were completed, 
and great was the joy of all parties, — none being 
more enthusiastic than Anna, who thought doing 
the work so quickly, scarcely less than a miracle. 

" Now is my time to help," said she ; " I can 
take the impressions ! " Her husband smiled, and 
Dritzhn looked incredulous, which made her more 
eager to be of use in expediting the issue of the fa- 
mous " History." Gutenberg gladly accepted her 
proffer of aid, saying, — 

" We welcome thy assistance, my dear, and we 
shall all be very busy. To-night we must fold and 
cut the paper into the right size for pages, and also 
grind the umber and make 4 the ink, and to-morrow 
we will commence impressing the leaves." 

Thus they wrought as busy as bees, and it proved 
to be rare honey thai they stored in those days of 
patient toil, — honeyfor the world, which will never 
be exhausted for all time, as our sequel will show. 



BLOCK PRINTING. 69 

Gutenberg and Dritzhn impressed the pages from 
the engraved blocks through the early part of the 
next day, while Riffe and Hielman, as usual, 
wrought in the front shop at the old trades. In the 
afternoon Dritzhn relieved the two workmen, while 
they with Anna assisted Gutenberg. After a little 
practice, she could take impressions as well as her 
husband ; and when she wearied of this, she made a 
strong paste, and under his direction commenced 
pasting the blank sides of the leaves together, for 
they were printed only on one side. In a few days 
they had a number of " Histories " bound and ready 
for sale. There was great rejoicing among those 
early workers over the beautiful books which were 
the result of their toil ! 

Now came the question how to dispose of them. 
The firm finally concluded to exhibit them two or 
three at a time in the front shop, and try the effect 
on customers. 

Gutenberg, remembering the experiment with 
pictures, said little. He was, however, hopeful that 
they could in some way make a market for the edi- 
tion in the course of a few weeks. If so, he felt 
that it would be a triumph of block-printing over 
copying. 

But he was doubtful of the project of exhibiting 
them in the way proposed, as the more books sold, 
the less jewelry and mirrors. At length Peter 



70 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



Schoeffer, a young man studying in Father Mel- 
choir's school in an ante-room of the Cathedral, was 
engaged to offer them for sale to the few learned 
people in the place ; for few, comparatively, knew 
how to read. 

As the books were valuable, and only small sales 
could be expected, he was permitted to take only 
one at a time. The first week he sold two copies ; 
and as one also was sold from the shop, the firm 
took courage — it was a success ! At this rate the 
edition would speedily be disposed of. 





vi r. 



Small Receipts. — Printing the " Donatus." — "Ars Memo- 
randa" — " Ars Moriendi." — An Interesting Fact. — Extract 
from " Ars Moriendi." 



A S time passed, the firm occasionally sold a copy 
-^- of the " History," but receipts were smaller 
than had been anticipated. Few of the common 
people could read, — its circulation was therefore 
mostly confined to the priests and nobility. The 
former rarely needed to purchase it, as each one 
could, if lie desired, secure one of the kind by copy- 
ing ; and trouble, expense, and time were involved 
in gaining access to the higher classes. 

Gutenberg consoled himself by reasoning that 
his books would be called for gradually, and that he 
must as soon as possible issue another work suitable 
for a more accessible class. These were the youth 
in the Cathedral, studying for the priesthood, who 
were under the necessity of copying their " Dona- 
tuses," or manuals of grammar. Why should he not 
prepare an edition for their use ? He would be sure 



72 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

of some customers, and there would be no risk in 
trying bis band at a " Donatus." The firm at once 
went to work upon the manual, which was one of 
the first school-books adapted to beginners. The 
children and youth of four hundred years ago had 
few aids in study, and few were educated. The 
voice of the living teacher, usually a priest, served 
to make passable the otherwise inaccessible paths of 
learning. 

As the busy company wrought on the " Donatus," 
the curiosity of certain neighbors was excited re- 
specting the nature of their evening employment, 
and it was deemed advisable more fully to remove 
the hidden art to Dritzhn's shop, from which print- 
ing-office the new manuals of grammar in due time 
were issued. They sold more readily than the " His- 
tory," and the edition of fifty copies was soon ex- 
hausted. Many of the scholars in the Cathedral 
school bought them ; and for a time Gutenberg and 
his firm were busy in issuing and Peter Schoeffer 
in circulating the work. The lapidary and mirror 
arts were still pursued by turns, although very nat- 
urally the firm felt more interest in the fascinating 
occupation of imprinting. After a few weeks the 
demand for the " Donatus " almost ceased, the 
pupils in Strasbourg and vicinity having been sup- 
plied, and the means of communication with other 
places being infrequent. There were no newspa- 



«ARS MORIENDI." 73 

pers, and none of the methods of advertising now 
in vogue with publishers. Still the company was 
not discouraged ; the sale of one book was a greater 
event then than is now the sale of many thousands. 

The call for the "Donatus" declining, the inven- 
tor turned his attention to a work of quite a differ- 
ent description, which was a great favorite with the 
more devout monks. This was the "Ars Memoran- 
di," or " Art of Remembering." We have no means 
of ascertaining the size of this book; but it could not 
have been large, as almost in immediate connection 
with it were engraved the blocks of a religious and 
devotional work called " Ars Moriendi," or the " Art 
of knowing how to Die." The numerous engrav- 
ings illustrating these books, Gutenberg seems to 
have omitted. 

These were comparatively new works, the first 
book having only been written in 1420, followed by 
other copies in 1430. Gutenberg's block edition 
was a great improvement on these, and soon became 
popular, being suited to the religious wants of the 
people. 

It is an interesting fact that the second book, 
"Ars Moriendi," continued to engage attention for 
many years. It is also probable that it was the 
identical work on which Caxton, the first English 
printer, was engaged the last day of his life, the 
15th of June, 1490, when he was about eighty 



74 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

years of age. The work at that time bore the title 
" The Art and Craft to know well to Die." 

If so, we have the inventor of printing himself, 
when comparatively a young man, issuing this im- 
portant work, and the first English printer crown- 
in g his life-labors in brino-ino; it before the world. 
The thoughtful and religious tone of this book may 
be gathered from the following passage from the 
preface : — 

" When it is so that what a man maketh or doeth, 
it is made to come to some end, and if the thing be 
good or well made, it must needs come to good end ; 
then by better and greater reason every man ought 
to intend in such wise to live in this world, in keep- 
ing the commandments of God, that he may come 
to a good end. Then out of this world, full of 
wretchedness and tribulations, he may go to heaven 
unto God and his saints, unto joy ever durable." 





VIII. 



Effect of Gutenberg's Books. — His Times and Ours. — His Books 
at the Cathedral. — Curiosity of the Monks. — Proposition of 
the Abbot. — The " Bible for the Poor/' — A Great Work well 
done. — A Good Sale. — The Canticles issued. — A Difficult 
Undertaking. — Discontent. — An Accident. — Discovery of 
Separate Types. — The First Font of Movable Type. — Diffi- 
culties mastered. — The Great Helper. 

IT is an interesting fact in the history of printing 
that its discoverer was led to issue works of an 
excellent and devotional character. As time passed, 
numbers were disposed of to the nobility, and occa- 
sionally one to some favored tradesman who had 
conquered his alphabet. Those who had purchased 
the " History of St. John," wished a copy ; and fam- 
ilies enriched with a"Donatus," cast about them to 
devise ways and means to buy the newer works of 
Gutenberg. 

But what changes these books effected in the 
households blessed with their presence ! " A man 
is known by the company he keeps ; " and books 
are most influential associates. People who had 



76 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

not dreamed of being able to buy a book, by the 
skill of Gutenberg suddenly found themselves en- 
riched with the treasure. How the reader of the 
family dwelt on the magic page ! for seldom it was 
that more than one member could read. How the 
little circle gathered round the fireside of an even- 
ing, listening to catch each word of the wonderful 
volume, which was read and re-read, discussed, 
approved, and mostly committed to memory. This 
eagerness of the more enlightened classes to own 
and read a book, may seem strange to us who all 
our lives long have been surrounded with books of 
all sizes, from the abstruse tome we pore over to 
understand, to the charming literary favorite that 
we read once and again with delight. 

But our wonder will cease when we remember 
what a different state of things then existed. Books 
were so scarce, — and this very scarcity increased 
their value, — then they were made with pen and 
ink alone, except by Gutenberg, who kept the se- 
cret of his block process. People took it for granted 
that the books he sold them were manuscripts, slow- 
ly written by hand ; and marveled much at their 
exactness and similarity. 

Still, with all the interest excited by his books, an 
edition of some fifty copies, sufficed to answer the 

demand. The mass of the people were too ignorant 
to aspire to the possession of a book. They could 



BOOKS AT THE CATHEDRAL. 77 

not read, and reasoned — if the subject came up 
— that books would be useless. To buy them, 
would be like purchasing a carriage when horses 
could not be had to draw it, or spectacles for a 
blind man, or shoes for one without feet. 

As was his custom, whenever a new book was 
issued, the inventor visited the Cathedral with the 
" Ars Moriendi " to make sales. The visit was an 
event of moment to the firm, far more than a trade 
sale is to a publishing house of this day. 

He first sought the Abbot in the library, whom 
he found sitting a little apart by a table, busily ex- 
amining the work of the copyists. 

" Good-morning, holy Father ! " said Gutenberg. 

" Good-morrow, my son : hast thou brought more 
of thy wonderful books ? " 

" That I have, Father," replied Gutenberg ; and 
as he began to remove the coverings, several monks 
gathered around him. 

" What hast thou here ? " asked Father Gottlieb, 
a gray-headed friar ; " more of thy magical books? " 

" I claim no powers of magic, Father ; it is simply 
patience that has done it ! " and opening an " Ars 
Memorandi," he passed it to the critical monk. 
Then taking a copy of " Ars Moriendi " he courte- 
ously presented it to the Superior. 

" Thank you, my son ! " rejoined his Reverence 
graciously. " It is a pleasure to examine thy man- 
uscript." 



78 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" Curious book ! " exclaimed Father Melchoir, a 
middle-aged monk, who had himself just finished 
a copy of the same work, by the slow process of the 
pen, with incredible pains and much time. " How 
came you to make so many books all alike ? 
How did you do it ? You have a great company 
of scribes, eh? " 

Gutenberg did not explain. Meanwhile the 
monks continued to gather ; for having seen some 
of the former issues of the lapidary, they were the 
more eager to examine the new one. 

u Very good ! wonderful ! " said one, as he turned 
over the pages of a book. 

" It is not like the work of our hands," added 
another. 

" But you have not answered my questions ! " 
persisted Father Melchoir, piqued that Gutenberg 
made such a show of industry and careful penman- 
ship. 

" I can even tell thee that I have accomplished 
it by patience," was the inventor's reply. 

" Why, we claim not to be wanting in that virtue," 
said Father Melchoir, "but none of us can compete 
with your speed in writing. Every few weeks you 
bring us in twelve or more books, all carefully 
written out in half the time it takes our readiest 
scribe to make one copy!" 

" Moreover," added another, as he compared two 



CURIOSITY OF THE MONKS. 79 

copies, " the letters are so exact and regular ; why, 
these two copies have just as many letters and 
words on a page, made precisely alike ! " 

u But, the books are unadorned!" broke in 
Father Melchoir. " And very plain and poverty- 
stricken they look to me after gazing on our illu- 
minated books, with their beautiful pictures, rich 
bindings, silk embroidered with gold and silver 
thread, and their backs of ivory exquisitely carved, 
or embellished with filigree-work and pearls and 
precious stones. One would suppose that a lapi- 
dary might at least use ornaments that are in his 
line ! " 

" I am not ambitious of adornment," answered 
Gutenberg. " I would greatly prefer to circulate 
twelve books in a neat plain dress than one in rich 
pictures and binding. My twelve books are made 
to be read ; w^hile an embellished copy is only fit to 
be locked up with clasps, and kept in a chest or 
cage, to be taken out on great occasions." 

The Superior meanwhile had been absorbed in 
the copy Gutenberg had presented him, and ap- 
peared not to notice the conversation. He now 
motioned the monks to withdraw ; then, turning to 
Gutenberg, said, — 

" I have a word to thee, my son ! " 

" I am ready to hear, holy Father ! " 

" Are these books made with the pen of the copy- 



80 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ist?" and his keen eye fell on the lapidary with a 
searching glance. 

Gutenberg was embarrassed for an answer. 

"It is as I supposed," continued the Superior. 
" They are made by engraved blocks, like the 4 St. 
Christopher ' and the ' Biblia Pauperum.' , 

Gutenberg saw that his secret was out ; but his 
consternation was allayed when the Father added, 
" It may be that we can furnish you with a work to 
engrave and imprint. How would you like to un- 
dertake with the c Biblia Pauperum ? ' The copy- 
which belongs to our library is rudely executed, and 
I doubt not you would greatly improve upon it. It 
is so rough and uncouth that I sometimes think the 
original manuscript copy made by Ausgarius in the 
ninth century must have been a better specimen 
of art. Think the matter over, my son, and let me 
know your decision at an early day." 

Gutenberg took leave, and on reaching home 
consulted the rest of the company about imprinting 
a new issue of the " Biblia Pauperum." It chanced 
that not one of the firm had seen the book, with the 
exception of Andreas Dritzhn, who once examined 
the copy in the Cathedral. He was in favor of 
engaging in the work, if the monks would take 
copies enough to pay them well for their labor. 
This was a point which Gutenberg was deputed to 
ascertain, that there might be no risk in devoting 



PROPOSITION OF THE ABBOT. 81 

the requisite time to perfect the engraving, — an 
undertaking; of no small magnitude. 

Accordingly, shortly after, Gutenberg made 
another visit to the Cathedral to confer with the 
Superior. He met with a cordial greeting, and 
almost abruptly the Father began : — 

" And what is thy decision, son Gutenberg ; wilt 
thou prepare for us new copies of the 6 Biblia Pau- 
perum r 

U I shall rejoice to engage in the enterprise," was 
the reply, " if I can do so without too much risk , 
but it will be a slow and toilsome undertaking, 
involving much expense " — 

" Which you w T ill be paid for when it is fin- 
ished." 

" But who will buy the book ? " 

"A goodly number of priests will need copies," 
replied the Father. " The forty curious pictures of 
which the book is composed, were designed to illus- 
trate a series of skeleton sermons. They are of 
great use in stirring the preacher's imagination, and 
storing his memory with excellent texts. The 
book, therefore, is mainly suited to the different 
religious orders, and will have sale chiefly among 
them. Still, as it is taken from the Bible, and 
called the 'Bible for the Poor,' others will buy it be- 
sides the priests, and it may have a wide circulation. 
Numbers will be needed to give the monks each a 



82 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

chance to examine it as often as is desirable, al- 
though the different copies will be chained in cages, 
or on tablets, that no person may appropriate one 
solely to his own use." 

This was an era in the affairs of Gutenberg. His 
art was acknowledged and patronized by the Supe- 
rior, and he himself really promoted above the 
monks, who were prominent not only among the 
book-makers or book-sellers, but the literati of their 
day. Still Gutenberg, as he called to mind the 
jealousy of Father Melchoir, feared fully to rely on 
patronage from the friars; and it was only the as- 
surance of the worthy Superior that induced him 
to engage in the expensive enterprise of bringing 
out a new " Biblia Pauperum." 

" Tarry a little," said the Abbot, as the lapidary 
was leaving ; " I w T ill lend thee our ' Biblia,' for a 
copy." Then going to the side of the room where 
the light streamed in from a lofty painted window, 
he unlocked a cajre. and taking the valued book 
from a gilded bracket, unfastened the chain which 
confined it to the wall, and, carefully wrapping it in 
paper, gave it to Gutenberg, who hastened away, 
intent on the new project before him. 

Dritzhn had become a skillful engraver, but it 
was necessary to secure the services of two other 
wood-engravers, residing in Strasbourg, to whom 
the subjects were carried, — cuts being taken from 




BLOCK-PRINTING FROM THE BEBLLA PA1 PERUM 



THE "BIBLE FOR THE POOR: 1 83 

the " Biblia " and given to them, one by one, as they 
could execute them. In this way the pictures were 
finished in the course of a few months. Gutenberg, 
Riffe, and Hielman engraved the inscriptions ex- 
plaining the cuts, of which those at the top and bot- 
tom of the page consisted of Scripture and Leonine 
verses, so called from Leo, the inventor, the end of 
each line rhyming with the middle, as for exam- 
ple : — 

" Gloria factorum temere conceditur hoi'um." 

The engraving of this " Poor Man's Bible " was 
a great work ; and only the invincible energy, en- 
thusiasm, and perseverance of those early artisans 
enabled them to accomplish it in so short a time. 
To form some idea of its magnitude, we must keep 
in mind that each page contained four busts, or 
figures of persons ; the two upper ones represented 
the prophets, or others whose names were beneath 
them ; the two lower figures are unknown, or can 
only be conjectured. In the middle of the pages, 
which are all marked by letters from the alphabet, 
were three historical pictures, one of which was 
from the New Testament. 

A fac-simile of this curious and ancient work can 
be seen in the Public Library, Boston, and will 
richly repay the trouble of examination. This has, 
however, forty-eight engravings, which may indicate 
that the work, as first issued by Ausgarius in the 



84 * THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ninth * century, was comparatively meagre, and 
grew to its present proportions by successive issues 
and by the hand of different artists. 

In due time the firm was busy in imprinting and 
binding the choice volume, delighted with the good 
prospect of remuneration for it ; and as soon as one 
copy was completed, Gutenberg again betook him 
to the Cathedral to exhibit it to the Abbot, who 
was warm in his praise of the work. 

" This is as I would have it,' 1 said he, with a 
beaming face, " it is elegantly executed, and more in 
keeping with the themes which it illustrates. Our 
priests will now have no excuse for stupid sermons 
when they officiate in the chapel or cathedral. 
Thou hast done nobly, and thy labors will subserve 
the interests of the Church." 

He then bestowed on him a generous sum, as an 
earnest of the full amount, when the copies he had 
engaged, were delivered ; and Gutenberg, with a 
happy heart, despite the glance he had of Father 
Melchoir's frowning visage, returned to his cottage 
to rejoice with Anna. 

" It is just as I anticipated," she exclaimed. " I 
knew thou wouldst triumph. Only to think, a real 
c Biblia Pauperum ' made by my John Gutenberg! 
I am proud and happy : we shall yet see good days. 
Then it will so enliven us to have a copy in the 
house, for I have thy promise of one of each book 
thou maysl make." 



THE CANTICLES ISSUED. 85 

" Aye, my Anna, that is as little as I can do ; 
when I get rich, I hope to add to thy wardrobe, as 
well as to our library ; " and he glanced painfully at 
her plain russet gown, for through all his experi- 
ments she had practiced a rigid economy in dress. 

"When thou art rich," replied Anna, "I will 
not refuse the gifts thy kind heart inclines thee to 
give ; but for the present, I am content." 

The "Biblia" sold better than any previous 
work, and Gutenberg and partners were much 
gratified. They did not, however, realize as much 
money as if they had kept to the lapidary and 
mirror business. The demand for books was so 
small, a market had to be created ; and this re- 
quired time and the slow progress of events. 

But so much pleased were they with their en- 
deavors, that, sanguine of still better success, they 
soon issued one of the books of the Bible entire. 
This was the Canticles, or Solomon's Song, and, 
like the " Biblia Pauperum," printed only on one 
side of the page from engraved wooden blocks. 
A copy of this work is carefully treasured among 
antiquities in the British Museum. 

Such was the estimation in which it was held as 
a work of art, and such its sale, that Gutenberg was 
led to attempt greater things ; he even conceived 
the idea of printing the entire Bible. Anna was 
greatly in favor of the undertaking. 



86 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" All thou wouldst have to do," said she, viva- 
ciously, " would be to make more blocks, — a block 
for a page ; and it would be so much better than 
copying. For a monk, if he lives to a good old 
age, and is diligent with his pen, can only write 
out two Bibles ; and printing from blocks is much 
greater speed than that." 

"True, Anna," was the reply; " but hast thou 
an idea how long it would take to engrave the 
blocks for the entire Bible ? " 

" Nay ; but thou art so expert that assuredly it 
would not take thee long, -r- a few months, I sup- 
pose, at farthest. I do hope that thou wilt com- 
mence on this work at once. It is so desirable to 
have the Bible issued by thy art." 

" But let us calculate a little, my dear Anna. 
There are seven hundred pages in the Bible. By 
close application, I cannot engrave carefully and 
suitably more than two pages a month ; and I must 
be full three hundred and fifty months, or nearly 
thirty years, in engraving blocks enough for the 

Holv Book ! " 

j 

" Why, that would be dreadful ! " cried Anna in 
dismay. " Thua wouldst be an old man long be- 
fore it was done ; it would even take thy life- 
time ! " 

"Yes, Anna, and this process of engraving fine 
letters on blocks, when pursued closely, is dimming 



A DIFFICULT UNDERTAKING. 87 

to the eyes ; I should be blind before my work was 
half done." 

" But thou couldst divide thy labors with thy 
workmen, couldst thou not? " 

" Aye, if I can persuade them to undertake so 
formidable an enterprise. But the men are getting 
weary of large works, and beg me to choose smaller 
ones ; they assert that the new process is no better 
for a large book than copying. Perhaps, however, 
we can issue the Gospels gradually, by taking one 
book at a time." 

" Perhaps thou canst," echoed Anna sadly. 

Although Gutenberg was depressed when he 
thought of the immense labor involved in imprint- 
ing so large a work as the Bible, yet he was not 
wholly disheartened. This was the secret of his 
success ; he would not give up ; was not frightened 
by difficulties ; what the faint-hearted would deem 
impossible, he feared not to attempt. The art of 
printing would have remained undiscovered until 
this day without this courageous perseverance. 

Gutenberg said nothing to his associates about 
attempting the execution of the whole Bible ; in- 
deed, he dared not entertain the idea himself; but 
he proposed that they publish the Gospels. They 
thought this too large a work. He replied that 
they could imprint the Gospel of St. Matthew, and 
do as seemed best about the remainder ; this was 
complete in itself, and would find a ready sale. 



88 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Accordingly they were soon hard at the task 
of engraving blocks for the Gospel of Matthew. 
Dritzhn demurred, as he mechanically toiled away, 
saying, " Unless prospects brighten, we shall never 
get back our money." 

Fault-finding is contagious ; and Hielman and 
Riffe soon manifested a similar spirit. Those were 
gloomy days. Gutenberg meanwhile said' little, but 
wrought at his block with renewed vigor. It was 
nearly completed ; a few turns and gashes of the 
keen-pointed instrument, and it would be done ; 
when by a slip of the hand the wood was split 
asunder ! 

Dritzhn looked up aghast, as much as to say, 
" How can we afford this great waste of time and 
labor ? " Gutenberg's quick eye interpreted the 
glance, and his ingenuity was put to the test of re- 
pairing the loss. He commenced fitting the block 
together in order to save some of the work at least. 
While thus engaged, the thought occurred to him, 
What if the carved block were broken up into sep- 
arate letters, so that they might be put together in 
any ^ ords desired ? 

He seized his knife and split the wood into the 
letters carved on its surface 1 . Thus lie had wooden 
type, which lie arranged in various words. The 
light of a great invention had dawned. Absorbed 
in thoughts of its advantages, he heeds not the cu- 



DISCOVERY OF SEPARATE TYPES. 89 

rious eyes of his comrades, as they intently regard 
him, wondering at his apparently aimless perform- 
ance. 

He was a philosopher, and in his search after the 
natural and practical came to reason thus : — 

" I want a system of impressing characters suited 
to the language. In Latin there are twenty-four 
letters, and the same letters are used over and over 
to spell many thousands of words. In a page of 
words I employ portions of the alphabet a number 
of times ; and after I have done printing with the 
block, the carved letters are lost. If I could con- 
trive a way of separating them, I could rearrange 
them without cutting new ones, and apply them to 
another page of different matter. 

" I must, then, have my letters for printing, sep- 
arate, like the letters of the alphabet, so that I can 
handle them as readily as I use letters to form 
words. I must carve the letters in wood with little 
handles to them, that I may take them up, and 
place them together as if I were spelling ! " 

Thus did the patient hero seize upon the idea of 
movable type, — the key-stone of the art of print- 
ing. He soon tried another experiment ; splitting 
a block into strips, and working it down to the right 
size, he carved a letter on the end of it. This cost 
him care and labor, for it was more difficult than 
engraving on the solid block. Many bits of wood 



90 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

were carved before he succeeded in getting a letter 
to suit him. But after many trials he made one, 
then another, and another, taking pains to form the 
sticks of the right thickness, so that when they 
were placed together, the letters would not be too 
far apart. 

When he had the alphabet carved, each letter on 
the end of a little wooden peg, he had twenty-four 
type letters, — quite a little pile, — which he re- 
garded with pride and satisfaction, and called them 
stucke, or type. Like a child in his first efforts in 
reading, so he carefully spelt his way onward. 

Bonus homo, " a good man," were the words he 
first tried with his type. Taking the bits of wood 
with the letters bonus, he placed them one after 
the other as he spelt the word, and fastened them 
together with a string. But when lie came to the 
next word, as he had only one o, he stopped and 
made two more before the word could be set up. 
As he tried other words, lie found that he needed 
more letters ; so, taking time, he cut out a large 
number of types for each letter in the alphabet. 
These he placed separately in little boxes to prevent 
them from being mixed. There was the box of 
A's, the box of B's, the box of C's, and so on for 
all the letters. Tins was a font of movable type, 
the first ever made, and the great step of progress 
in his invention. 



THE GREAT HELPER. 91 

If you will try the experiment of cutting type out 
of wood, you will more readily perceive the difficul- 
ties attending it. It was the work of months to ac- 
complish this, which w T e have noted in two or three 
pages. 

As Gutenberg went on setting up bonus in type, 
he found an obstacle in keeping the letters together, 
so that he could rub ink on them and print. Eve- 
ning came, and he took them home to remedy the 
difficulty, and notched the edges of the two outside 
letters, the 6, and the s, that he might tie them 
firmly with the linen thread he had provided. 
This fastening them together, that they might bear 
the impression of the solid block, was also a study ; 
but he w T as not to be turned aside by obstacles. He 
had energy, courage, perseverance, and ingenuity; 
for Providence was inspiring him for his work. 





IX. 



Anna's Disappointment. — Dritzhn's Regrets. — -Comfort for Anna. 
— Gutenberg's Progress described — The Great Enlightener. — 
Advantages of Movable Type. — Another Book. — Obstacles. — 
Criticisms. — Invention. — A Press contrived. — New Cause of 
Disquiet. 

A S for Anna, usually so hopeful, she was much 
^-*- disquieted when her husband told her that 
block-printing was only suited to small books, and 
that some other method must be sought out, or he 
could not issue large works. She had her heart on 
retrieving their affairs by the sale of books, and 
was bitterly disappointed that the new art could 
not at once, if ever, bring the hoped for prosperity. 

Dritzhn's life was embittered witli vain regrets ; 
each hour of the (lav was vocal witli his murmurs 
and forebodings. Under these circumstances, Gu- 
tenberg did not feel free to take his rightful share 
of the small profits, and, in consequence, the allow- 
ance for family expenses was not sufficient to furnish 
his home with comforts and keep Want, the gaunt 



COMFORT FOR ANNA. 93 

wolf, away. And so it came about that one day 
Anna sat sewing in her dwelling, the picture of 
grief, and bitterly reproaching herself for the ad- 
vice she had given her husband to turn aside from 
the sure returns of the artisan to the uncertainties 
of invention. The garment she was making fell 
from her hands, and she exclaimed, — 

" Alas ! I am the foolish woman that plucketh her 
house down with her hands ! I had not the wisdom 
to give my husband good counsel ! " Thus she be- 
wailed herself with bitter tears and reproaches till 
evening, when, hearing Gutenberg's step as he re- 
turned from St. Arbogast, she quickly wiped away 
her tears, and strove to meet him with composure. 

" Why, Anna ! " he cried, as he beheld her 
woe-begone face, " art thou ill ? Are our friends 
dead ? Speak, and tell me ! " And as she revealed 
the source of her disquiet, he said cheerily, — 

" My Anna, thou must take a juster view of 
things. Brighter days are in store for us. Thou 
dost not know what I have discovered ! " 

" But I know too well what I have discovered," 
she rejoined ; " it is that we are beggars. There is no 
food in the house, and I can go no more to the pro- 
vision merchants until they are paid. It is dread- 
ful to think how we have spent our money ! " To 
such an extremity of speech was poor Anna brought 
in her trial. 



94 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" O Anna ! Anna ! " exclaimed Gutenberg, dis- 
tressed for her, " dost thou see these bits of wood ? 
I have cut a letter on the end of each. I fasten 
them together thus ; " and he held up the type of 
the word bonus. " I ink them, and press them on 
paper thus. See how beautifully they print; " and 
he showed the word impressed in clear characters. 

" But is it not presumption to trust longer to un- 
certainties ? " cried Anna ; " they cannot bring food 
into the house. We are poor." 

" My Anna," soothingly said the kind husband, 
" dost thou forget that I have conceived a great in- 
vention, and that thou art really as rich as a queen ? " 

" O, the wild dream ! " returned Anna, smiling 
through her tears, comforted by his sympathy, " I 
shall trust it when it pays our debts, and feeds and 
clothes us. We are verily poor, and I see not how 
vain imaginings can help us." 

" But, dear, my patrimony is not all gone. I have 
land still unsold at Mentz ; and as I cannot realize 
money from these immediately, I promise thee that 
if this invention does not help our affairs in a month, 
I will relinquish it for the present, and return to 
polishing gems for a livelihood." 

It was a rough and thorny way that the inventor 
trod, reaching after that great gift which (rod held 
out to man, and no wonder that Anna, in this time 
of trial, pleaded with him to turn back, watering 
his path with her tears. 






GUTENBERG'S PROGRESS DESCRIBED. 95 

Gutenberg slept little the night of the revelation 
of movable type. He deemed the invention most 
important ; and before his mind, stimulated to un- 
usual action, some of the great changes which 
would ensue from his discovery, were dimly por- 
trayed. Like the prophets who understood not the 
full import of their own utterances, but inquired 
diligently to know what the spirit which was in 
them did signify, so the discoverer of the wonder- 
ful art could only hope that it was the introduction 
of something glorious; and that hope was thence- 
forth his guiding star amid the darkness of his 
earthly lot. With the first ray of morning he was 
at his work, to test more fully the new types. Set- 
ting them up, he fastened them together, and printed 
the same words as before. Bonus homo shone with 
the halo of eureka to Gutenberg's eye. " I have 
found it ! " he exclaimed, and, starting off to market, 
brought home food for the day. 

Gustav Nieritz, a German writer, thus describes 
Gutenberg's progress : — 

" He set to work with the utmost eagerness. Out 
of a piece of hard wood he sawed some thousand 
tiny blocks, a few incl^s long, and very narrow. 
At one end he cut a letter in relief, and bored a 
hole through the other. After having thus furnished 
himself with a considerable number of the letters 
of the alphabet, he placed whole words together, 



96 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

and arranged them in lines on a string, until they 
formed a page, when he bound them together with 
wire, and so prevented their falling asunder. He 
then blackened his wooden type with ink, and taking 
up the whole together, pressed upon it a sheet of 
paper. And now let us place ourselves in his posi- 
tion, and enter into his feelings as he beheld the 
first fruits of his long, unwearied labors. 

" With a trembling hand he caught up the print- 
ed paper. It had succeeded beyond his expecta- 
tion. Tears ran down his cheeks as he gazed on it 
with ecstacy. It was the Lord's Prayer, with which 
he had made almost his first attempt at printing 
with types. 

" Often had his lips uttered the words of prayer, 
whilst he was thinking only of his invention ; now, 
however, their meaning came clearly upon his mind, 
and his grateful soul turned fervently to the Father 
of all light, from whom this light also had come, 
which would enlighten men as no other human in- 
vention could do. He fell upon his knees, holding 
the sheet of paper in both hands, and repeated the 
prayer it contained with his whole heart. O ! it 
was not for the sake of worldly gain that he rejoiced 
in his discovery. It was that it freed him from the 
debt that he had long ago incurred. He might be 
called a dreamer and an idler: lie neither heard 
nor regarded. 



THE GREAT EN LIGHTENED 97 

"''Anna ! ' he cried, throwing his arms round her, 
1 here is the gold brocade cap, and all the rest be- 
sides which I promised you. I have succeeded, and 
our fortune is made.' His wife shook her head 
incredulously, and said with a sigh : — 

" 4 1 wish you would give up these fancies, and 
return to your work.' Gutenberg smiled, but per- 
severed." 

" My Anna ! " said the inventor, some little time 
later, as he showed her other specimens of his work, 
" I trust that our poverty will soon be over. You 
shall yet ride in a coach, and dine like a queen. 
My invention is a certainty." 

" I only wish comforts and a competence," re- 
turned Anna tearfully. 

" We are sure of both,*' replied he. " Let me tell 
thee, wife, nothing yet invented by man, ever made 
such inroads on ignorance as this will effect. Almost 
everything we know, we have acquired through the 
medium of either spoken or written language. The 
mass of the people are only acquainted with the for- 
mer. Everybody will, by and by, learn to read and 
understand written language, and the knowledge 
locked up in cloisters will be freely poured out to 
the thirsty multitudes. It is through language that 
we become wiser and better ; and if my discovery 
succeeds, as it must, the knowledge of the arts, 
sciences, and religion will be sooner or later spread 



98 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

abroad. Then, no more hoarding of libraries that 
kings, prelates, and priests alone may read ; but the 
common people, too, will have their books." Anna 
listened with pleased interest, and he went on : 
" God has bestowed great honor on books, as some 
of the devout authors say, in communicating with us 
through them ; and if holy men of old who spoke as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost had not written 
down what God taught them, where to-day would 
be our knowledge of our sacred things ? And if it 
was important for God to record his will, may we 
not suppose that He will give wisdom so that a way 
may be devised to publish his Word with facility ? " 

" I must think so, my Anna," he added, " and I 
cannot doubt that He has given me skill in what I 
have undertaken. It grieves me to think what vou 
must have suffered through it, but I trust our dnys 
of mourning are ended ; " and his happy smile light- 
ened her heart like a sunbeam. 

It was still quite early in the day when Guten- 
berg repaired to Dritzhivs shop, to exhibit to his 
associates his invention of separate types. As he 
entered, he was struck with the settled gloom that 
rested on Dritzhn's face. tw My improvement lias 
occurred in good time,"* thought the inventor ; "my 
partners are getting discouraged." 

tw 1 have something new to show you/' said he to 
Dritzhn, who was busy engraving the first verses 
of the third chapter of Matthew. 



ADVANTAGES OF MOVABLE TYPE. 99 

" New things have nearly ruined us ! " retorted 
Dritzhn, looking up moodily from his work. 

" But this is a new method of imprinting, which 
will save much of our labor," said Gutenberg, 
showing the specimens of bonus homo and the 
" Lord's Prayer." 

" How does this mode differ from ours? " asked 
Dritzhn. " You impress with the block, do you 
not ? " 

" Nay ; I first make letters on bits of wood, tie 
them together to impress with, and, after using 
them, take them apart, and set them up for new 
words." 

"And this tying together and taking apart would 
consume time," objected Dritzhn. "I see no advan- 
tage in this mode ; in my opinion, it would involve 
us more deeply." 

u But let us try it," interposed Hielman ; u if it 
will save labor, it is a good thing." 

" Leave well enough alone ! I think we shall do 
better to keep on as we have begun," said Riffe, 
with the air of one who had settled the matter. 

" Block-printing is by no means to be despised," 
answered Gutenberg, " in books of a few pages ; 
but in a large book of many pages, we waste time 
in cutting letters, as they are only of use for that 
book, and cannot be taken apart and used for an- 
other." 



100 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" I am opposed to any change," Dritzhn reiter- 
ated ; " we are sufficiently involved without any 
new experiments. We cannot do better than keep 
on with the block books." 

Gutenberg had failed in convincing these men, 
but he was confident that the practical working of 
his separate types would yet be an argument they 
could not resist. He persevered in his experiments, 
and, in place of engraving on the block, busied him- 
self in adjusting and readjusting his type for the 
" Lord's Prayer," as he found a difficulty in keeping 
them in place, when he took a second impression. 

Dritzhn and Riffe, having little fellowship for 
this new way of " spending time," were ready to 
criticise when the types slipped out of place, as 
Gutenberg tied them with thread or twine. But 
before the day was over, he had managed to take 
several good impressions of the " Lord's Prayer." 
This was well enough, Dritzhn said, but still in- 
sisted that he did not see how it was better than if 
taken with an engraved block, and was in no mood 
to investigate the matter with candor. 

The partners had previously decided to publish 
the "Speculum Humanae Salutis," and they now 
commenced upon it. The ^ Speculum " suited both 
parties, as there were plenty of subjects requiring 
wood-engravings, and the movable type could also 
be used in the written portion of the book. 



OBSTA CLES. — CRITICISM. 101 

As Gutenberg wrought at his types, he had still 
to combat the difficulty of making them hold to- 
gether with sufficient firmness. At first he used 
strings, then wires. These were easily displaced, 
and cost him many a hard job of repairing dam- 
ages, which confirmed Dritzhn and Riffe in the 
opinion that it was useless to attempt to make them 
work. It was not reasonable, the former said, that 
such bits of wood could be made serviceable in 
book-making. There was some sense in a solid 
block, and his advice was to keep on in the old 
way, with which, however, he was often finding 
fault, for he had enlisted in the enterprise not 
so much for the love of the art as the love of 
money. Months of toil and large expenditures 
had brought comparatively small returns. Some 
of the firm even began to talk of returning to 
the old occupation of polishing stones. Riffe con- 
tinued to echo Dritzhn's criticisms and complaints. 

" Why not keep on with block-printing ? " asked 

•the latter, as Gutenberg was busy cutting out his 

type, or stucke as it was called. " I've just got my 

hand in, and do not wish to give up the trade for 

whittling sticks, of which I do not see the use." 

" Let me try once more to explain the use," 
pleasantly replied Gutenberg. " Suppose the let- 
ters of the alphabet were tied together so that you 
could not separate them, how could you spell words ? 



102 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

The letters on a block cannot be taken apart to 
form other words ; but with the separate types it is 
very different ; " and to illustrate his meaning he set 
up a word in type, printed with it, took the letters 
apart, or " distributed " them, and framed another 
word. 

Although slow to be convinced, his associates 
finally acknowledged the necessity of movable type 
and began to acquire some degree of skill in mak- 
ing; them. 

An advance on the method by cords and wire, 
was Gutenberg's invention of a frame with wedges 
to keep the types in place. This had the approba- 
tion of his partners. It was a great gain, and there 
was much congratulation when he succeeded in 
firmly adjusting the stucke so that they had all the 
the advantage of the solid block, with none of its 
disadvantages. 

Taking impressions of the type on paper by fric- 
tion was slow and unsatisfactory ; and Gutenberg, 
after many experiments, contrived a press to imprint 
with, and employed a skillful mechanic to make it. 
This saved, besides other labor, the trouble of past- 
ing the blank backs of the leaves together, as both 
sides of the paper were imprinted. 

A distinguished writer, who assures us that he 
lias had access to the archives of Strasbourg, thus 
vividly describes this discovery ; u Months and 



A PRESS CONTRIVED. 103 

years had been consumed — his fortune also and the 
funds of the association — inpatient experiments, 
in successes, and in reverses. At length, having 
made a small model of a press which appeared to 
to him to combine all the conditions of printing as 
he then understood it, he hid the precious miniature 
under his cloak, and, entering the city, went to a 
skillful turner in wood and in metal, named Conrad 
Sachspach, who dwelt at Merchants' Cross-roads, to 
ask him to make one of a large size. He left the 
secret in the machine, only telling him that it was 
a contrivance by which he proposed to accomplish 
some chefs d'oeuvre of art and mechanics of which 
a slower process was known. The artisan, taking, 
turning, and re-turning the model in his hands, 
with a smile of disdain at the rough sketch com- 
pleted by Gutenberg, said to him, with a bantering 
air : — 

" ' This is only a simple wine-press that you ask 
me to make, Master John ! ' 

" ; Yes,' replied Gutenberg in a serious and digni- 
fied tone, c it is a wine-press in effect, but it is a 
press from which shortly shall sprout forth floods of 
the most abundant and the most marvelous liquor 
that lias ever flowed to quench the thirst of man. 
By it God shall spread his Word ; from it shall 
flow a fountain-head of pure truth. As a new star, 
it shall dissipate the darkness of ignorance, and 



104 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

cause to shine on men a lio;ht hitherto unknown ! ' 
He withdrew. The mechanic, who understood 
nothing of these words, executed the machine, and 
returned it to Gutenberg at the monastery of Ar- 
bogast. This was the first press. 

" In giving it into the hands of Gutenberg, the 
workman began to suspect some mystery. ' I see 
clearly, Master John,' said he to Gutenberg, 'that 
you are indeed in communication with celestial 
spirits ; so hereafter I shall obey you as one of them 
— as a spirit ! ' " 

This first press, contrived in the gloomy recesses 
of the old monastery, was set up in the printing 
rooms of Dritzhn's dwelling, but was not at first 
fully appreciated. 

Two years passed, the company cutting a supply 
of movable type. Some sales were effected, but 
financial affairs were not flattering. 

Meanwhile a new cause of disturbance occurred 
to impede progress, and waken in Gutenberg's part- 
ners doubts of his uniform infallibility in inven- 
tion. 

It was discovered that ink softened the type, and 
injured the shape of the letters. 

1 title, one of the first to notice it, became 
alarmed. 

" It is my mind/* said he, " that the bubble has 
burst. We may as well give up, and engage in 



NEW CAUSE OF DISQUIET. 105 

our old trade. These uncertainties will never bring 
grist to the mill." 

" The type does not print as well after it becomes 
softened by the ink?" said Dritzhn inquiringly to 
Gutenberg. 

" We must expect difficulties," was the reply, 
" and seek to overcome them. We must make 
more fresh type until we can contrive a way of 
hardening the wood." 

At this the firm murmured against him afresh ; 
nor were they better satisfied as time went on, and 
"John Dunnius' bill of one hundred florins was 
sent in for press-work." 

" Monstrous ! " exclaimed Hielman ; " we can 
never afford it." 

"It is all pay out in this business," Dritzhn add- 
ed, " and almost nothing; coming in to balance the 
loss." 

" Wait a little," was Gutenberg's reply ; " we 
are now sowing the seed ; by and by we shall reap 
our harvests." And he further appeased their agi- 
tation by calling attention to the satisfactory work- 
ing of the press, and reminded them of the great 
service it was to them. 

" Do you not see," said he, " that our labor of 
making stucke is nearly useless without the frame 
and press ? We must either give up the art, and 
disband, or make tne necessary improvements as 
thev are called for." 



106 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



While feeling keenly the murmurings of his as- 
sociates, most indomitable was the spirit that he 
cherished, having the indispensable attribute of 
the true inventor, — a passion for his calling, and 
confidence in ultimate success. 








X. 

A Partner at the Confessional. — His Death. — Consequences. — 
A Lawsuit. — Thieves. — Dangerous Curiosity. — Destruction of 
Gutenberg's Type. — Curious Testimonies. — Yalue of the Legal 
Document. — Proof that Gutenberg was the Peal Inventor. — 
The Magistrate's Just Judgment. — Public Excitement. 

T)OOR Dritzhn ! he was sadly lacking in the 
spirit which upheld Gutenberg. He was a 
plain matter-of-fact man, with none of the origina- 
tor, — content to plant in the spring and reap in 
the autumn, to work in time-worn paths ; but du- 
bious things that were years in maturing, were not 
suited to his nature. The possibility of failure poi- 
soned his enjoyment, palsied his hand, and enfee- 
bled his step. And this, in 1438, after the short 
space of two years of suspense in the firm. 

Father Melchoir, his spiritual adviser, noticed the 
change. 

" My son," said he, " something troubles thee ; 
confide the matter to me; perhaps I can help thee." 

" I am indeed in trouble," replied he, glad of a 



108 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

confidant, for the secret and the doubt of success 
together wore on him. " I fear that I shall be 
ruined as to worldly prospects." 

" I trust not : how is it, my son ? From what 
source is the danger ? " 

" Alas, Father, gladly would I tell thee, but I 
have bound myself with an oath not to reveal the 
secret." 

" But, my son, the Church does not recognize 
oaths in such a case. They are null and void for 
all purposes whatsoever, and thou art free to tell 
me all thy heart at the confessional : it is even thy 
solemn duty to do so." 

Dritzhn was only too easily persuaded, and, de- 
spite his sacred oath, told Father Melchoir of his 
connection with the firm. 

"I have given hundreds of florins," said he, "to 
bring out a hidden art of writing, with the hope 
long ere this of selling books and getting profits 
from my money. A few have been sold, but I have 
received no dividend. Besides, I have earned but 
little by my trade for these two long years ; my 
time has been thrown away, and I am poorer than 
ever." 

" A very sad case! " said Father Melchoir, com- 
passionately. 

" This load is too heavy for me to bear," la- 
mented Dritzhn; "it will kill me! To think of 



A PARTNER AT THE CONFESSIONAL. 109 

throwing away hundreds of florins on a doubtful art, 
without in return getting back a single obolus ! x 
What can I do?" 

" Get free from this secret league as soon as pos- 
sible, and resume thy trade." 

" I wish it could be done, Father, but I fear it 
cannot. If I leave the firm, I shall lose all chance 
of getting back the money I have lent them. I am 
in doubt what to do." 

" Leave it by all means ! " cried Father Mel- 
choir; " be sure no good will come of their arts." 

fi I will see what I can do," said Dritzhn, and he 
rose to go. As he entered the shop, he found Gu- 
tenberg, Hielman, and Riffe busy setting new type 
for another work. It was a dictionary, called a 
" Catholicon." They were all eager in their toil, 
and spoke warmly of the ready sale it would find, 
and the money it would brinp; in. Dritzhn, a little 
encouraged, resumed his work with them, nor did 
he breathe a word of his plan of leaving. It was 
too great a step to take hastily, although he wished 
himself safely out of the partnership. 

There was so much repairing of type to do, and 
so many unlooked-for hinderances, that the book 
was delayed, and 1439 came round before it was 
finished, although Gutenberg was meanwhile stead- 
ily improving his art. 

1 The very expression of Dritzhn at confessional. 



110 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

At this point of time, the autumn of 1439, just 
when they were about realizing their hopes in is- 
suing the " Catholicon," an event occurred which 
threw everything into confusion. This was the 
sudden death of Andreas Dritzhn. If ever the 
adversary hindered an enterprise, it was the art 
of printing ; he had doubtless reasons of his own 
for multiplying obstacles. 

Accordingly the death of Andreas was the pre- 
text ; and directly George and Nicholas, brothers of 
the deceased, two sturdy jogging Germans, who 
never harmed a fly, on arriving home from An- 
dreas's funeral, demanded of Gutenberg, Hielman, 
and Riffe to be admitted to the partnership ! 

" Very good," said Gutenberg; " if we can find 
it in the contract, it shall be done." Then, produc- 
ing the document, he read : — 

" Art. 2. If any one of the partners shall die 
during the copartnership, the survivors shall pay to 
his heirs the sum of one hundred florins, in consid- 
eration of which the effects shall become the prop- 
erty of the surviving partners." 

" Nay, gentlemen, you cannot become partners, 
but we will pay you what is due as the heirs of An- 
dreas Dritzhn." Then, looking over the accounts of 
the firm, lie added, " Your brother is indebted to us 
in the sum of eighty-five florins ; we will pay you 
the remaining fifteen, which will balance accounts." 



THIEVES.— DANGEROUS CURIOSITY. Ill 

George and Nicholas rejected the offer with dis- 
dain, and, hastening away, conferred with each other 
as to what they should do. Two strong principles 
were at work in their hearts, — avarice and curios- 
ity. From some few hints which Andreas had 
dropped while living, George and Nicholas were as 
much excited about the hidden arts of Gutenberg 
as Ave covetous moderns are with a chance at a rich 
vein in a gold mine ; and they determined to try a 
suit at law, and if possible become members of the 
secret league. 

This was in the autumn, and was peculiarly 
grievous to the inventor. The lawsuit consumed 
his time, thwarted his plans, and there was great 
danger that the secrets of his art would become pub- 
lic. The protection of the patent offices was then 
unknown. No inventor could put in a caveat to 
hinder the encroachments of trespassers. The law- 
suit had bruited abroad that Gutenberg & Co. had 
a secret art, which, like the philosopher's stone, 
turned everything into gold ; and curiosity, on tip- 
toe, used every device to get a peep at the wonder. 
Gutenberg's work was at an end. It took all his 
time to attend the courts, and watch his shop, that 
no one might steal his art. It required double dili- 
gence to do the last, as the shop was in Andreas's 
house. Despite his cautions to Hielman and Riffe, 
one day, in his absence, George and Nicholas man- 



112 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

aged to take from the shop a part of the printing 
apparatus. Gutenberg then gave orders to his ser- 
vants to convey secretly to his house a printing- 
press and a quantity of letters cut in wood. The 
theft was a source of great anxiety to him, as he 
feared that the secret was out. The careful thieves, 
however, safely hid their booty, and lisped not a 
word. 

At length it became evident to Gutenberg — 
such was the pitch to which curiosity had risen — 
that every vestige of the noble art must be de- 
stroyed. It was not safe even to hide it in his own 
house. 

" Take the stucke from the forms," said he to his 
associates, " and break them up in my sight, that 
none of them may remain perfect." 

" What, all our labor? " cried Hielman; " here 
we've been at work these three years ! " 

" Never mind," replied Gutenberg ; " break them 
up, or some one will steal our art, and we shall be 
ruined ! " and witli that they set to work with their 
hammers and mallets, and the stucke was soon de- 
molished. His precious type lay in the dust, and 
still the lawsuit was lacerating his sensitive mind. 

The following curious testimony was given dur- 
ing this trial : — 

"Anna, the wife of John Schultheiss, an en- 
graver on wood, deposed, that on one occasion 



CURIOUS TESTIMONIES. 113 

Nicholas Beildeck came to her house to Nicholas 
Dritzhn, her relation, and said to him, ' My Nicho- 
las Dritzhn, Andreas Dritzhn, of happy memory, has 
placed four pages (stucke) in a press, which Guten- 
berg has desired that you will take away and sepa- 
rate, that no man may know what they are, for he 
is unwilling that any one should see them.' 

" Also John Schultheiss says that Laurence Beil- 
deck [Gutenberg's servant] sometime came to his 
house to Nicholas Dritzhn, when Andreas Dritzhn 
his brother was dead, and that the said Laurence 
Beildeck thus spoke to said Nicholas Dritzhn : ' An- 
dreas Dritzhn, of happy memory, has placed four 
pages on a press, which John Gutenberg desires 
you to take therefrom, and break them from one 
another, so that no man may see what they are.' 

" Also Conrad Sachspach deposed that sometime 
Andrew Hielman came to him upon the Street of 
Merchants, and said, ' My Conrad, as Andreas 
Dritzhn is dead, and you made that press and know 
all about the matter, go hence and take the pieces 
from the press, and lay them separate from one an- 
other, so that no one may know what it is.' 

" Laurence Beildeck says that he was sent by 

John Gutenberg to Nicholas Dritzhn, after the 

death of Andreas his brother, to say to him that 

he should show to no one the press that he had, 

and that he should see to it. He added that Gu- 
8 



114 THE ART OF PRINTING, 

tenberg had moreover commanded him that he 
should go suddenly to the presses, and open that 
press [frame] which was furnished with two screws 
or spindles (cochleis) that the pages should fall into 
pieces, and place those pieces within or upon the 
press, so that no one should see the matter, or un- 
derstand what it was. 

" The same witness also said that he knew well 
that Gutenberg, a little before the Feast of the Na- 
tivity [Christmas], had sent his servant to take 
away all forms, which were broken up in his sight, 
that none of them might be found perfect. More- 
over, after the death of Andreas, the witness was 
not ignorant that many were desirous of seeing the 
presses, and that Gutenberg had commanded that 
some one should be sent who might hinder any one 
from seeing the presses, and that his servants were 
sent to break them up. 

" Also John Dunnius, goldsmith, said that three 
years or thereabouts previous, he had received from 
Gutenberg about three hundred florins for materi- 
als relating to printing." 

All this affected the Strasbourgers, both priests 
and people, very differently from what it does our- 
selves. We prize it as a legal document, showing 
the existence of separate types, and also two 
presses, one of them made by Conrad Sachspach 
and the other by John Dunnius, to whom the firm 



GUTENBERG TEE REAL INVENTOR. 115 

paid three hundred florins for press-work done in 
December, 1436. These presses served very differ- 
ent purposes, as Gutenberg commanded his servant 
to " open that press which was furnished with two 
screws or spindles." Plainly one was the " chase" 
for type, and the other the upright frame with a 
screw, which moved down the platen to impress 
the paper placed upon the type. We learn also 
that the art was a secret at the time when Lau- 
rentius Costar lay at the point of death, and those 
mistake who give him the honor of inventing print- 
ing. 

We can picture to ourselves the excitement 
which prevailed, when a man of Gutenberg's firm 
character was led to make such utter destruction 
of his property after the disclosures of the lawsuit. 
He may have feared that a lawless mob would in 
vade his shop, and scatter the proofs of his inven 
tion, and that some person of ingenuity would get a 
clew to the art, and rob him of his sacred rights. 
What hours, days and nights of solicitude he suf- 
fered ! Those only, who in a good cause have 
met the scoffs and jeers of the rabble excited by 
unscrupulous leaders, can well imagine the inven- 
tor's emotions. 

Happily, Anna was equal to the emergency, and 
became a very heroine. She had no idea of being 
crushed, although for a little while she had given 



116 . THE ART OF PRINTING. 

way to despondency, and her strong-hearted cour- 
age inspired her husband. His home was a little 
paradise of peace, the resort of flowers and birds 
and all beautiful things which she instinctively 
gathered around her. God's gracious smile rested 
upon it, and in this sanctuary Gutenberg's wounded 
spirit was soothed ; here he gained strength, and 
girded on his armor anew for the battle of life. 
The fiercer the strife without, the more blessed the 
peace within this retreat. 

The lawsuit dragged its slow length on until De- 
cember 12th of that year, when the magistrates gave 
judgment relieving Gutenberg from " the unjust 
demand of George and Nicholas Dritzhn, upon the 
payment of the sum of fifteen florins, being the 
difference of the sum of one hundred florins due to 
Gutenberg by Andrew on the original contract." 

This was just what Gutenberg had proposed at 
first ; and his adversaries had their trouble for their 
pains, without, perhaps, the consolation of knowing 
how much they had annoyed him. The lawsuit was 
over, but it had exposed the state of Gutenberg's 
affairs, and people were curious to learn more. 
Rumor was busv with her thousand tongues. "He 
is not willing that anyone should see!" "Some- 
thing wrong!" and in the spirit of the superstition 
of the times, many cried out, "Mystery! Witch- 
craft ! " The whole community was in a ferment. 



PUBLIC EXCITEMENT. 



117 



Time passed, and a little before the Feast of the 
Nativity, so faithfully had Gutenberg's orders as to 
the destruction of the press and type been exe- 
cuted, that nothing remained of the wonderful art, 
which since the death of Dritzhn, had so much dis- 
turbed the good city of Strasbourg. 





XI. 

Benighted. — Minstrel of the Hearth. — The Blaek Art. — A Bare- 
foot Friar. — Popular Prejudice. — Hopes and Fears. — Guten- 
berg returns to his Trade. — Dissolution of the Copartnership. 

rMHE country of the Rhine was visited by a win- 
try tempest from the North Sea. Benighted, 
Gutenberg, wrapped in his monk's cloak, little 
heeded the roaring winds and cutting blasts, as, af- 
ter destroying the work of years, he bade adieu to 
Dritzhn's shop, and hurried homeward. The storm 
of life, the contest with his fellow-men, was more 
pitiless to him than the fierce raging of the ele- 
ments. 

It was quite dark when Anna, placing a light in 
the window, stirred the fire, and sat down to await 
his coming. The supper table was invitingly spread, 
and the covered dish of food placed by the fire to 
keep warm. 

" Why docs lie not come? May God preserve 
him from unreasonable men ; " and she caught up 
her work to while away the time. An hour passed, 
seeming to Anna much longer, when a cricket, 



THE MINSTREL OF THE HEARTH. 119 

warmed into consciousness by the genial heat, 
hopped out of his covert, coated with dust, and 
blithely sang. 

" A good omen ! " mused Anna ; and shortly af- 
ter, true enough, there was a stamping on the step, 
and a shaking of garments; and, springing to the 
door, she welcomed her husband. 

" O, it is yourself! come at last. But you look 
like a huge white bear! " And she gayly laughed 
as she drew him in, and brushed off the snow. 
" I was in fear lest some evil had overtaken you, 
until our dear little cricket piped on the hearth, as 
if to assure me that you were almost here." 

" Yes," replied Gutenberg, throwing off his cloak, 
and hanging it on its peg in the corner, " and my 
Anna and my home welcome me as cheerily as 
ever." 

" We at least ought to comfort thee when the 
world without weareth such dark frowns." 

" Aye, aye, there is need of comfort. But I divine 
that some one has been here in my absence, and 
given thee cause of anxiety." 

" O, nothing worth minding," returned the little 
wife. " Let us sup, and speak of the bright side of 
life." 

"I am puzzled to find it; but thou canst point 
it out doubtless." 

" Sha 4 !! we forget," said Anna, " the mercy and 



120 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

the blessing that we are spared to each other, and 
that no lawless mob has invaded our peace ? " 

" Aye, we do well to remember that it might be 
worse with us," was the reply ; and having rever- 
ently said grace, for a time supper was discussed in 
silence, for Anna's last question had awakened 
grave thoughts. Suddenly the cricket broke out 
anew with his shrill note. 

" What does the creature mean ? " asked Guten- 
berg. " Does he dream that it is summer ? " 

" Bethink thee ; lie is the insect prophet of hope. 
He is saying, ' Bright days are coming, never 
fear!"' 

" I trust the hearth minstrel is right ; he will at 
least be useful in making me sleep well ; his song 
sounds like a lullaby ! But now that supper is over, 
what of thy visitor? " 

" It was John Schultheiss' wife," replied Anna. 

" That dark-browed woman ! Why came she ? " 

" To comfort me with evil tidings ; to tell me 
that it had been clearly proved in court that thy 
hidden art was no better than witchcraft, but that 
such was the inefficiency of the magistrates that 
they gave decision in thy favor. Some believe 
that thou art in league with the devil, and can 
enchant them or spoil their goods.*' 

" What superstition ! " exclaimed Gutenberg ; 
Wk this comes of ignorance, and the scaftity of 

hooks!" 



A BAREFOOT FRIAR. 121 

u I did not reason with her, or make reply, and 
she soon left ; and soon after, Simon, the Barefoot 
Friar, appeared. His religion, as you know, consists 
in clothing himself in rags, begging from house to 
house, and paying for his welcome in prayers and 
benedictions. As I opened the door in answer to 
his loud knocking, he cried out, ' God save the 
house ! ' then, as he came in, added, ' God save 
the house, and all that's in it ! God save it to the 
north ! ' and he made the sign of the cross in every 
direction towards which he turned. ; God save it 
to the south ! f to the east ! f and to the west ! f 
Save it upwards ! ' turning his eyes heavenward, 
and crossing himself, ' and save it downwards ! f 
Save it backwards ! f and save it forwards ! f Save 
it right ! f and save it left ! f Save it by night ! f 
and save it by day ! f Save it here ! f and save it 
there ! f Save it this way ! f and save it that 
way ! f Save it eating ! f f f and save it drinking ! 
tttttttt Oxis Doxis Glorioxis, Amen.'" 

Gutenberg joined Anna in a merry laugh at this 
farce, as she went on rehearsing the idle priest's 
performance. 

" ' And how are you, gracious lady, now that I 
have blessed the place in the name of Saint Peter 
and all the Apostles and the nine patriarchs ? Isn't 
a merry Christmas coming to you ? And isn't there 
plenty of good cheer in the house ? ' So I made 



122 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

him welcome, giving him a seat by the fire, and a 
dish of the best food the house afforded. 

" c You don't say that you're prospering,' said he, 
as I helped him to the second supply ; for he ate 
like some great animal. 

" 4 We are in trouble ! ' I answered. 

" ' I know it ! ' he exclaimed, with a laugh, 
munching a mouthful and clapping his hands. ' I 
had it revealed to me ! I know all about it ; and 
I know the prayer for it. Oxis Doxis ! f f f If 
you'd only sent to me in the first of it, I could 
have kept your trouble back, and I can now be a 
hindering cause to it, and get you safely through, 
for I know the prayer for it ; Oxis Doxis ! f and 
I'll go at it directly when I get refreshed.' ' 

" His own comfort first ! " said Gutenberg, laugh- 
ing. 

" Yes," replied Anna, " and isn't he a good spec- 
imen of that class of priests, who are really only 
beggars ? All so wise in their own opinion, and so 
ready to instruct every one they meet. How dif- 
ferent from the devout and learned priests who 
minister the services of our holy church!" 

w * But how didst thou <jyt rid of him ? " 

11 After he had eaten like a glutton, he was ready 
to give me religious instruction. c Do you know, 
gracious lady, 1 said he, devoutly crossing himself, 
'that you are the very likeness of the Blessed Vir- 



A BAREFOOT FRIAR. 123 

gin ? I know it, for she communicates with me 
from heaven.' 

" ' Does she speak to you, Simon ? ' I asked. 

" ' The Blessed Virgin herself does so, and no one 
else,' he answered. ' And now le-t me tell thee, 
daughter, what she said to me only last night. I 
was just composing myself to sleep, after opening 
my window a little ways to let her in, — for she is in 
the habit of appearing to me, — when a silvery cloud 
came floating through the air, and the Blessed 
Lady alighted, came in, and took her seat upon my 
bed. I made haste to say my " Ave Maria," she 
the while sweetly smiling ; and after I had said 
Ora pro nobis exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine 
times, our holy Queen of Heaven and Mother of 
God opened her ruby lips, showed me her pearly 
teeth, and revealed to me that the Barefoot Friars 
are the dearest to her of all the orders of monks ; 
and she showed me an easy way to get to heaven, 
making me a solemn promise that whoever dies 
with a Barefoot Friar's cloak on, shall assuredly go 
to heaven.' " 

" The impostor ! " exclaimed Gutenberg. " Does 
he teach such doctrines as these ? Of what avail 
could his cloak be in such a matter ? I do not 
wonder that John Wickliffe was stirred up to de- 
nounce such men almost a century ago ! " 

"When I remember," said Anna, " that Henry 



124 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

II. found out one hundred murders committed by 
priests, I am afraid to refuse the beggar friars when 
they ask for food. I know not what they might do 
w r hen angry. They would at least curse me, and 
call down the judgments of Heaven." 

" Which would harm thee as little as it did 
Wickliffe," said Gutenberg. " It is related of him 
that when he was very sick, the friars burst into 
his room with abusive language and curses, prophe- 
sying his death and torment, which so roused him 
that he sprang from his bed and drove them out, 
saying, ' I shall not die, but live to declare the evil 
deeds of you friars.' " 

" Would there were more like him ! " said Anna. 

"We have some pious priests," replied Guten- 
berg, " but others are corrupt and time-serving. 
Occasionally one studies the Bible, and is guided 
by its precepts ; but there are so few copies of the 
sacred Word, that all cannot have it if they would. 
If its laws were more generally known, there would 
be a reformation in the lives of many of these men. 
I had my heart on multiplying copies of this Book 
of books, but alas ! my plans have been frustrated ! " 
and the tears dimmed his eyes. 

"Never fear, thou wilt yet be prospered," re- 
turned Anna, soothingly. " Wickliffe did not fail in 
what he attempted, neither wilt thou fail of accom- 
plishing something worthy of thy aims and efforts." 



POPULAR PREJUDICE. 125 

" But my work is done in Strasbourg. I cannot 
stem this tide of prejudice and jealousy." 

" Strasbourg is not all the world," rejoined Anna. 
" We can remove where people and priests are 
not against thee." 

" But unless God interposes," said Gutenberg, 
" I have no hope that I shall ever return to my 
art." 

At the close of the lawsuit, Gutenberg found 
himself overwhelmed with debt. His presses, type, 
and all his printing materials were destroyed. He 
was a poor man, and must start anew in the world. 
And such was the popular prejudice against his be- 
loved art, that he saw it was useless to attempt it 
again. Besides, Riffe and Hielman were now 
wholly averse to the business ; they urged that it 
had never been profitable, and that defeat and dis- 
aster had attended its prosecution. It only re- 
mained for them to resume the lapidary trade in 
the little shop of Gutenberg's cottage. This served 
a good purpose in allaying the excitement which 
had been stirred up by the revelations of the law- 
suit. And the inventor was thankful that he had 
something positive to fall back upon in the hour of 
his extremity, and often contrasted his condition 
with what it would have been otherwise. 

With the weight of a bitter disappointment rest- 
ing upon him, he wrought successfully at his trade, 



126 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

despite the efforts of certain evil disposed persons, 
who sought to crush him in the hour of his defeat. 
Now he had little intercourse with his fellow-citizens 
and the monks of the Cathedral, save in the way 
of business. It was the time of his reverses, and 
he had fewer friends than formerly. 

By constant application he managed to get a 
comfortable support and pay his most pressing lia- 
bilities ; for the rest he suppressed his noble tastes. 
It was vain to stem the tide of poverty, ill-will, and 
evil surmisings which WDuld infallibly meet him, 
had he the means even to attempt the prosecution 
of his favorite aims. Yet in his dreams he was 
often cutting type and working his press as of old. 
How he sighed to find them only dreams ! 

Thus, with alternations of hopes and fears, the 
latter predominating, passed the period till the close 
of 1441, at which time he was glad to be released 
from all connection with Riffe and Hielman. There 
was little congeniality to make their daily inter- 
course agreeable, and no one of the firm proposed 
another term of contract. 




XII. 

Congenial Quiet. — Making Type again. — Gutenberg issues " Ab- 
sies." — Peter Schoeffer. — Decides to remove to Mentz. — 
Emotions of Gutenberg. — Fraternal Sympathy. — The Meeting 
with Faust. — Table Talk.— Removal. 



TITHE dissolution of the firm was in some respects 
-*- a benefit to the lapidary. He had time for 
quiet thought, and, as in years gone by, his shop was 
his sanctum. Feeling at ease, his work progressed 
rapidly, and his day's task was often accomplished 
ere the sun declined, when instinctively his hand 
followed the bent of his mind, and engaged in cut- 
ting stucke. He said nothing of this to Anna, until, 
by accumulations of spare hours' work, he had made 
a fount of type. He then surprised her by showing 
his treasures. 

" That is so much like thee, John ! " she ex- 
claimed. " I do believe thou wilt yet even receive 
the reward of thy perseverance ; but thou canst not 
attempt great things now, not having the means of 
making a press, and with no one to assist thee." 



128 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" I have made this type in the leisure after my 
daily work," was the reply ; "I can, moreover, de- 
vote a portion of my energies to preparing apparatus 
for imprinting ; it will, however, avail me little in 
this place. Nevertheless, I shall work on, hoping 
that it will at some time turn to account." 

Gutenberg's evenings were henceforth occupied 
in constructing a frame to inclose the type, and a 
printing press ; but it was some two years from the 
time of the disbanding of the firm before he was 
ready to print. He then issued an alphabetical 
table, called the " Absies." This was a one page 
book, and had besides the alphabet, an Address to 
the Virgin Mary, and the Lord's Prayer. He had 
designed it for the use of the pupils in the Cathedral 
school, but it was some time before he had courage 
to attempt introducing it. 

A little incident decided him. It happened one 
morning that Peter SchoefFer, a scholar who had 
assisted in selling the block books, and now famed 
for his skill in penmanship, came into the shop. 
He had at one period called often, and a friend- 
ship had sprung up between himself and the in- 
ventor. The latter, sure of his sympathy, showed 
him a copy of the "Absies." Schoeffer was highly 
pleased, and Baid, — 

"According to my thinking, this is what we need 
in our school. The letters are regular and plain, 



GUTENBERG REMOVES TO MENTZ. 129 

and it would save great labor in copying." He then 
volunteered to bring the work to the notice of his 
teacher ; and after inquiry and examination the 
school was furnished with the " Absies." 

Time passed, Gutenberg leading much the same 
life, — mostly engaged in the lapidary business, and 
printing a small page occasionally ; in this last 
work having little patronage. It was, indeed, use- 
less to attempt printing at Strasbourg; the old 
prejudice reviving as soon as it was known that he 
had made any new issues. He resolved, therefore, 
to abandon the place forever. But where should 
he go ? As was natural, he decided to return to 
Mentz, the home of his childhood and youth. In 
this decision Anna fully concurred, sensible that 
her husband could never succeed in the place of 
his defeat. 

Gutenberg was deeply moved on approaching his 
native city, Mentz. He had left it in the buoyancy 
of youth, a chevalier ; less than a score of earnest, 
struggling, eventful years pass, and he returns an 
artisan. Humiliation, indigence, and glory had 
wrestled in his destiny. The lawsuit had spread 
his fame through Germany ; but poor, ruined, con- 
demned, he comes back with aching heart and dis- 
appointed hopes to reconstruct, if possible, his fallen 
fortunes. His parents were no more ; and hesitat- 
ingly he drew near the old home, a stately ancestral 



130 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

dwelling- How would his brother receive him and 
his in the day of his adversity ? Would he find him 
estranged by the cruel slanders of the Strasbourg 
busybodies ? He well knew that he should miss 
the loving ministrations of his sister Hebele, as, 
soon after his departure, she had joined the St. 
Claire Convent ; and now he realized as never be- 
fore, her living burial. Alas ! she seemed dead to 
her friends. Forebodingly he crossed the threshold 
of his fathers ; but Friele, true brother that he was, 
met him joyfully, bidding him welcome again and 
again. This sympathy was most grateful to the 
wanderer in his reverses ; still he was only half- 
satisfied, he so much longed for help in his beloved 
art ; but how could he speak of it, and perchance 
break the spell of their happy meeting ? Friele 
had, however, learned many passages of his late 
history from Gutenberg's occasional letters to his 
mother, and eagerly questioned him for farther 
particulars. This led the inventor to dwell on his 
struggles to bring out an art which would multiply 
books, and lessen the labor of making them. Friele 
listened intently, yet was doubtful of new things. 
He promised, however, to aid him in some feasible 
way. This might be the work of time, and mean- 
while he begged him to be hopeful and happy, ex- 
pressing his conviction that all would yet turn out 
for the best. This loving reception was balm to 






THE MEETING WITH FAUST. 131 

the wounded spirit of the inventor ; and feeling that 
he could safely confide in his brother, he showed 
him some of the works he had printed, and the 
printing materials which he had brought with him, 
at the same time acknowledging more fully his 
strong wish of commencing the business in Mentz. 

Friele was increasingly interested, and hoped to 
be able to assist him ; meanwhile Gutenberg de- 
cided to rent a small cottage, and pursue his busi- 
ness of the lapidary ; occupying himself as he might 
be able, in fitting up his printing apparatus. 

One day, some time after, as he was passing the 
Church of St. Christopher, he met his brother 
Friele in earnest discourse with a stranger, whom 
he introduced as John Faust, saying to Gutenberg, 
smilingly, — 

" We were just speaking of thee, brother 
John ! " 

" I am most happy to meet thee ! " said Faust, 
cordially. "I should know you from your resem- 
blance to your father. I am well-acquainted w^ith 
your cousins and all your kindred ; I esteem them 
highly, and heartily welcome back a former towns- 
man, — a member of one of our patrician families." 

Friele pleasantly bowed and passed on, as Faust 
continued : — 

" Your brother has given me some account of 
your efforts in the arts ; and I am desirous of learn- 
ing more respecting them." 



132 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

The heart of Gutenberg was touched by the gen- 
uine interest in himself and his endeavors, mani- 
fested by the rich goldsmith ; and the two new 
friends were soon walking the streets absorbed in 
conversation. 

" I have devised a most important invention, " 
said Gutenberg, " and it remains hidden like a 
buried seed till the rain and sunshine bring it up to 
light and fruitage. Would that I had my hoarded 
patrimony, that I might render my discovery avail- 
able ! But such is the necessity of keeping the de- 
tails of my processes, that I have not ventured to 
apply for money to prosecute the art." 

"If I had a full understanding of what it is, I 
might perhaps assist thee," returned the banker. 

" It concerns book -making," explained Guten- 
berg, for Faust was fast winning his confidence. 
" You are aware that the great work of the mon- 
asteries in Germany, as elsewhere, is copying 
books, and that they receive vast sums for their 
works. My new process doth entirely supercede 
their toil, and fashioneth books without the labor 
of copying." 

" Impossible ! " ejaculated Faust. 

" But I can demonstrate it ! " 

" Good, if thou canst prove it beyond all ques- 
tion. But what money is needed to carry out thy 
wonderful discovery? " 



GUTENBERG REVEALS HIS ART. 133 

" Some two or three thousand florins," answered 
Gutenberg. 

" If I were convinced," returned the other, 
" that it would pay better than goldsmithing, — 
but I must see specimens of thy work, before com- 
mitting myself to the enterprise." 

" And I will with pleasure show them you, pro- 
vided you will pledge yourself that, if convinced, 
you will invest in the undertaking. Meanwhile 
rest assured that it will yet pay richly. - Why, 
consider what moneys the monks receive ; and 
my books will be more in demand, since they are 
better executed." 

" As to books," remarked the goldsmith, " ac- 
cording to my thinking there are enough in the 
world already. They serve little purpose save to 
turn active men into mopers. Nevertheless, as peo- 
ple will have them, there can be no harm that we 
should make a profit by furnishing them. They 
may as well have books as jewelry and mirrors, 
which gratify their vanity." 

" I think so," replied the inventor, smiling ; 
" and when you come to know my art, you cannot 
fail to admire it." 

" Art ! " exclaimed Faust jocosely, u hath it 
aught to do with the black art ? I could not abide 
that. Much as I value money, I would not league 
myself with the Evil One." 



134 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" By no means," said Gutenberg, a mirthful ex- 
pression breaking over his care-worn face, " and 
you have no greater abhorrence of such wickedness 
than myself." Then seriously, " I believe in using 
the wisdom that God giveth. As saith St. James, 
c If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, w T ho 
giveth unto all men liberally, and upbraidethnot.' ' 

" But what if thou art deceived in thy business 
calculations ? What then w T ill become of my 
money ? " asked Faust. 

" There can be no mistake," was the answer. 
" I have put the discovery to practical use : I 
have made books by it, and there can be no illu- 
sion. This I will demonstrate before we sign a 
contract. If it were not a great discovery, and 
most beneficent and far-reaching in its results, I 
would not be thus earnest to bring it out. But to 
delay is risking too much ; in case of my death, 
it would perish with me." 

" If I can be convinced that it is a certainty," 
returned Faust, "I will furnish capital; but I can- 
not abide a doubt. As I said, if I am satisfied, we 
will draw up and sign an agreement ; you, on your 
part, to teach me the secrets of the art ; I, on my 
part, to provide money; and the profits to be shared 
equally." 

He then agreed to come and spend the ensuing 
day at Gutenberg's house, examining specimens of 



GUTENBERG REVEALS HIS ART. 135 

his work and investigating the practicability of his 
invention. 

It was noon the next day when Gutenberg took 
Faust home with him, to the dismay of Anna, who, 
since her preoccupied husband had forgotten the 
marketing, had only the prospect of a dinner of 
herbs for her guest. At length, in her. anxiety, she 
heard the sound of a fisherman's horn; -and, sally- 
ing out into the street, she purchased a great treas- 
ure, — a fish. In due time the simple repast was 
ready ; and when they were seated at the table, 
Faust, reverting to the subject of their previous 
conference, said, — 

" Your invention has something to do with en- 
graving on wood. How can that be less laborious 
than copying? " 

"It is precisely to draw your attention to that 
point that I spoke of it," replied Gutenberg. " With 
that alone we could not even imprint a large work 
in a life-time. But if, instead of engraving a whole 
page on a solid block, we use a small movable 
block for engraving each letter, you see that we 
can then use the same letters any number of times, 
and so lessen our labors beyond all calculation. 
This is the first great step of my invention. Does 
it not seem simple ? Why did no one think of it 
before?" 

He then described the process by which he 



136 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

reached his various improvements, dwelling espe- 
cially on his invention of the press. 

" You must have a world of perseverance ! " ob- 
served Faust, admiringly. 

" When one gets on the track of a great idea," 
said Gutenberg, a handsome glow tinging his 
cheeks, "it is hard to give it up." 

" But you are an artist in gems," interrupted 
Faust. " Who executed the work in wood for 
you?" 

" Conrad Sachspach, at Strasbourg, made the 
frame, following my directions. But I must show 
you some of my books : " and, rising, he produced 
a number, and among them the " Speculum," which 
was made partly from blocks and partly from mov- 
able type. 

" Are these really specimens of books, Master 
Gutenberg ? " asked Faust with surprise. " Won- 
derful ! wonderful ! thou hast wisely devised a 
most useful art, that will shortly bring thee both 
riches and renown ! " 

" And thou hast the faculty to quickly compre- 
hend my art," replied Gutenberg with a beaming 
face. 

" That is true," added Anna, " and it is so 
Messed to be appreciated. But while you warm 
over your theme, dinner gets cold! " and a laugh 
went round the table. 



TABLE TALK. 137 

" This is a worthy deed of thine, madam," re- 
plied Faust, "preparing a good dinner, and making 
us laugh. Physicians would commend thee." 

" What would they say to my husband? wouldn't 
thev counsel him to descend from the clouds and eat 
like other people ? " 

"■No doubt of it, madam, since ideas, however 
original, have not the nourishing elements of food. 
You have been tried by your husband's application 
to his one idea ? " 

" At times," replied Anna, " I have failed to see 
the service of it." Faust laughed heartily, add- 

ftigi — 

" Time enough for the utility, madam. The in- 
vention must go through a process to become avail- 
able ; it must creep before it can walk. Have pa- 
tience, madam ! " 

" I try to have a great store," she playfully said, 
"but he is so taken up with his projects that I can 
scarcely ever get a word from him. When he 
leaves his work-shop for the day, and draws his 
chair to the fire, one would think he might have 
the grace to be sociable ; but there he sits and pokes 
the fire, rends the fire, studies the fire, half the 
night, and I would like to know what is the neces- 
sity of so much meditation ? " 

"Ah, madam," returned Faust, "it is the com- 
mon experience of inventors to meet many adversi- 



138 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ties in the outset. You have reason to be proud of 
your husband. As I understand it, he has made a 
great discovery, — the beginning of something of 
vast importance." 

Then, turning to Gutenburg, he added, " I am 
ready to advance thy invention. But how shall we 
move ? Secrecy is indispensable. We must live 
in the same house in which we work, — we must 
consult much together. Where is there a suitable 
building ? " 

" I had thought of the Zum Jungen," said Gu- 
tenberg. 

" The very place. It is almost a palace in size* 
and will afford ample room ; is in the city, and yet 
retired from its bustle. It is now vacant, and I will 
go and engage it at once. This evening let us draw 
up a written contract, or articles of agreement, and 
I will advance the needed funds. When can you 
remove ? " 

" To-morrow, can we not, Anna ? " 

" Why," exclaimed she, " can we get ready so 
soon ? We are scarcely settled yet." 

"The easier to remove," replied Gutenberg; add- 
ing, " moreover, the Zum Jungen is a very beauti- 
ful place, and reminds me of the old castle Thiir, 
where I first met my Anna ! " 

14 Let us go at once," immediately returned 
the wife ; M it must be delightful. Why cannot De 



REMOVAL. 139 

Becktoff de Hanau come and help us remove ? " 
alluding to an old servant and valet of the Guten- 
berg family, who, like others of their servants, had 
been allowed to hire himself out, since he could not 
be maintained. 

" A good thought, wife ; he shall take charge of 
our goods, and we shall avoid some of the fatigue 
of a second removal. I will bring him hither;" 
and Faust having taken leave, Gutenberg hastened 
to find the old valet. 





XIII. 



The Zum Jungen. — The Old Valet. •— A Happy Change. — Go- 
ing over the Process anew. — Type of Lead. — Peter Schoeffer. 

TIIHE Zum Jungen, that famous old house on the 
Rhine, was engaged ; the articles of agreement 
duly drawn up and signed. Faust advanced 2,020 
florins, taking a mortgage of Gutenberg's printing 
materials as security ; and the firm, having removed 
their families to the building, commenced operations 
in the printing rooms. Hanau, the valet of the 
elder Gutenberg, was especially serviceable in the 
removal, and was soon installed as a faithful helper 
in the office. 

" What think you of this ? " said Gutenberg to 
Anna one morning, soon after the settlement in 
their new quarters, as they stood on the balcony 
that overlooked the river. 

" O, it is so beautiful ! " she replied. " Never 
will I tire of this scenery. There ; do you see those 
swallows sitting so still upon their nests under 



A HAPPY CHANGE. 141 

the roofs ? Now one flies off zigzag to the ground, 
after a worm ; now she bears it back, perches upon 
her nest, and chippers with her little ones as they 
eat their breakfast. Hear them chatter ! Then 
how fragrant the flowers ! How pretty the hills, 
clad in vineyards ! I feel at home already, and I 
mean to be happy, and let no forboding trouble me. 
I do not yet ride in a coach, and dine like a queen, 
but my home is in a palace. How good it was in 
Faust to advance money ! What a difference it 
makes in our circumstances ! " 

" Besides, how it affects my art ! " returned Gu- 
tenberg. " How could I prosper without it ? And, 
Anna, we do well to remember that there has been 
providential interposition in our affairs. We must 
acknowledge it if we would be directed. Think of 
the long trial we have had, and of our deliverer." 

" It does seem like a miracle. But how canst 
thou ever make new types and presses like those 
which were destroyed at Strasbourg ? " 

" Trust me I shall not be long of doing that," 
answered Gutenberg. " I am encouraged. The 
prospect was dark until my arrangement with 
Faust ; but we shall do well enough, now that abun- 
dant means are provided." 

At first the firm was occupied with some of the 
block books which had been issued at Strasbourg. 
Among these were the " Absies," or alphabetical 



142 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

tables, the " Doctrinale," and a manual of grammar, 
or " Donatus." 

The work did indeed go prosperously forward. 
Gutenberg, Faust, Hanau, and Martin Duttlinger, 
— the last named a Cathedral scholar who had as- 
sisted in printing at Dritzhn's shop, — were occupied 
from early in the morning till late at night in cut- 
ting type and setting it up. Faust had also occa- 
sionally some of his workmen — a Hamburgher 
among them — in the printing hall. They wrought 
in two well-lighted, convenient rooms in the second 
story, — - so surrounded by other rooms as not to be 
accessible to strangers, — which apartments they 
kept constantly locked. 

Step by step, the company went through in a few 
months what caused Gutenberg years of experi- 
menting, as we in a few hours can read a book 
which cost the author the study of a life. Not 
that they really mastered everything as did their 
teacher. That which he himself elaborated, was 
indeed a part of his mind, his inventions being 
his thoughts embodied. Hence the propriety of 
giving him so prominent a place in this volume. 
The art cannot be fittingly portrayed without 
sketching its originator. Like soul and body, they 
belong together ; it is impossible to picture one 

without the other. 

To describe the process by which Gutenberg 



TYPE OF LEAD. 143 

taught his art, would be to repeat the progress of 
the Strasbourg firm, save that the Mentz printers 
were more hopeful, earnest, and intelligent, and did 
not so easily yield to obstacles ; and also the dif- 
ference that they were immediately advanced to 
movable type. 

" We are making fine headway," said Faust to 
Gutenberg, when the works referred to had been 
printed. 

" Yes, but we sadly need a designer for our en- 
gravings. How I miss my Andreas Dritzhn, of 
happy memory, who did excellent service in this 
line at Strasbourg." 

" Cannot some one be found to fill his place ? " 

" I know of only one man that would do," replied 
Gutenberg, " and that is young Peter Schoeffer, a 
teacher of penmanship, now residing in Paris. I 
must send him word to join us." 

As the printing went on, Gutenberg encountered 
the old difficulty of the softening of the type, and, 
on being questioned by Faust respecting it, set his 
ingenious mind to work to remedy it. 

Turning to a drawer of odds and ends, and tak- 
ing out some bits of metal, he said, " Suppose we 
make our type of lead ! " Faust took up a strip, 
and, commencing a rude letter on the end of it, said, 
" This will do, assuredly. It is hard, and yet we 
can cut it, and it will not become soft, as does wood, 
by absorbing ink." 



144 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" We can at least test it," said Gutenberg. " If 
it should not prove to be just what we need, it may- 
suggest something useful. My progress has been 
made by a series of experiments ; and because we 
fail once, is no reason for discouragement. We 
have only to try until we succeed." 

Faust's letter gave him much satisfaction. "We 
have discovered the right thing for our type ! " said 
he, after making an impression with it. He then 
strode up and down the room, now looking at this 
form, now that, then stopping to dab the leather 
ink-balls on the type, then taking up a manuscript, 
and generally making himself at home in the 
printing-office. Since he had become a partner 
and patron, his manner had grown pompous and 
somewhat lordly. Although a mere novice in the 
new art, he was fully sensible of the honor he con- 
ferred on the firm in associating himself with it, 
and very naturally assumed a general oversight. 
The inventor saw the infirmities of his friend, but 
forebore remark. He was both discerning and 
patient. 

One afternoon, some weeks later, as a shower 
was rising, Anna sat by her window, alternately sew- 
ing and watching the clouds as they gathered in 
dark columns and overspread the sky. The brown 

sparrows that frequented the roof of the Zum Jim- 
gen, chattered as the large drops loll, perching upon 



PETER SCHOEFFER. 145 

the tiles and laughing at the rain. Just then who 
should be coming up the street but Gutenberg and 
Peter Schoeffer, in earnest discourse, seeming to 
heed the weather as little as did the birds. Guten- 
berg had opened his heart to Schoeffer as to an old 
friend ; he felt confidence in doing so, for Schoeffer 
had proved himself estimable and trusty when in 
his employ at Strasbourg. As they came nearer 
and entered the house, Anna heard Gutenberg say, 
" Canst thou tell me, Master Schoeffer, now that 
we are on my art, what is the most notable and 
important book in the world ? " 

" I do not consider myself learned enough to 
answer that question," answered Schoeffer, after a 
pause. " The scribes who spend their lives in 
making libraries should know." 

" That is true," was the reply. " Bui, judging 
from the works which you have seen, which is the 
most celebrated and useful?" 

"I recollect," replied Peter Schoeffer, "when I 
was in the Cathedral school, that Father Melchoir 
showed us the Gothic Gospels, or Silver Book, 
and remarked that more art and expense had been 
spent on the Bible than on any other book. From 
this I must infer that in the opinion of the wise, it 
is the most useful and important book in exist- 
ence." 

"Right," replied the inventor; "more time 

10 



146 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

has been spent in copying the Bible than any other 
book, and justly ; for the Word of God is before 
all human productions." 

" But is not the Breviary made more prominent 
by our priests?" 

" Although in more common use, you will notice 
that it is not generally so highly ornamented and 
so costly as the Bible. This last is the foundation 
of the Prayer-book, as also of the institutions of 
our religion. Whatever we enjoy of Christianity 
and civilization is due to that sacred Book. Hence 
it is of all others the most to be prized and pre- 
served. There are, however, comparatively few cop- 
ies of it in the wdrld, — only two or three thousand, 
it is said, and these mostly hoarded in monasteries, 
universities, and royal libraries. Suppose now, that 
in the conflict of nations, evil should befall the de- 
positories of the sacred Book, and, through some 
devastation or edict, the Bible be lost to us. More- 
over, the Holy Book is sold to kings when they can 
afford to pay six hundred crowns for it ; if they 
may have the Bible, why may not their subjects ? 
My purpose is to print a Bible in the best style of 
my art, and multiply copies of it. I shall need in 
this work a skillful engraver of letters." 

** I > 1 1 1 what an undertaking, to print the entire 
Bible ! '* said Schoeffer, 

"Yea, a stupendous work!'' was the answer, 



PETER SCHOEFFER. 147 

" and it will take years to accomplish it ; hence I 
am the more anxious to begin. Can I not depend 
on thy aid ? " 

Peter Schoeffer had assisted Gutenberg in Stras- 
bourg, and admired him, and now was only too 
happy to accede to his request, and take charge of 
designing letters for engraving. 

Thus early in the history of his invention did 
Gutenberg conceive the project of printing the 
Bible ; consecrating his art to the honor of God, 
and the welfare of his fellow-men. Well does 
Mr. Hallam say, "It is a very striking circum- 
stance, that the high-minded inventors of this great 
art tried at the outset so bold a flight as the print- 
ing an entire Bible." 





XIV. 

Working of the Press. — The Medallion. — An Acquisition. — 
Experiments. — A Failure. — Schoeffer's Invention. — Discovery 
of Cast Metal Type. 

"CENTERING the printing .rooms, Gutenberg in- 
"^ troduced Peter Schoeffer to John Faust, and 
then called his attention to the new press, which 
was a noticeable improvement on those broken up 
at Strasbourg. 

" Admirable ! " exclaimed Schoeffer, as the in- 
ventor explained the working of the machine. 
" Good progress has been made since I was in your 
shop, years ago." 

As Martin Duttlinger, the workman, dabbed the 
type with ink, slid under the platen, and, having 
pressed it, removed the printed page, Peter was 
delighted with the facility with which the press 
operated. 

" This is truly wonderful," cried he. " Pray, 
friend Martin, how many impressions can be made 
by this press in a day ? " 



WORKING OF THE PRESS. 149 

" About three hundred, if we work it con- 
stantly." 

u Is it possible ! " exclaimed Peter. " Now in- 
deed will books multiply. What will the plodding 
copyists say to this ? " 

Simple man of the ancient time ! What would 
you say to the speed of our cylinder presses, which 
throw off twenty thousand printed sheets an hour, 
or more than three hundred a minute ! Think of 
it, shade of Peter Schoeffer, — it would take one 
hundred and ninety-two thousand of the swiftest 
scribes to furnish by copying the same amount as 
one of these presses supplies in one hour ! 

Contrast the speed of the snail and the light- 
ning ! 

But what was Peter Schoeffer's personal appear- 
ance ? some one asks. We shall let you judge for 
yourself, — in our opinion he was not handsome. 
However, as " handsome is that handsome does," if 
we can find in history that he did to others as he 
would have others do to him, we will forgive his 
plain face, since it was no fault of his. Suppose also 
we look at the three together. 

The portraits are taken from a medallion, and are 
faithful likenesses of the individuals acknowledged 
in Germany as the first printers. The subject from 
which the picture was copied, is said to have been 
engraved by the famous Gubitz of Berlin, from an 
old German painting. 



150 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

We shall become more interested in Schoeffer 
when we learn what he achieved ; but it is high 
time he was described. 

His forehead is high, hair scanty and smooth, the 
perceptive ridge stands out over the eyes, — which 
are black and piercing, — nose long and decided, 
mouth large and smiling, and the chin entirely hid- 
den by a flowing beard. He is called the Improver 
of the art of printing. 

Faust, on the same medallion, is a better-looking 
man than Schoeffer, and twenty years his senior. 
His brow is not so lofty, but it is care-worn, while 
his hair is jet-black. He has the hawk's eye, keen 
nose, and pursy mouth of the shrewd and thrifty 
business man. A scanty beard discloses a well- 
turned chin, and altogether he makes a fine appear- 
ance. He is distin cmished as the Promoter of the 

o 

art. 

Gutenberg has been already described in a pre- 
ceding chapter. 

To return to Schoeffer. 

Opening his travelling bundle, he produced spec- 
imens of his own hand-writing. These were in 
the most elegant style of the practiced monks. The 
letters were clear, legible, and uniform, charming 
the eye. 

" Your nice taste and delicate execution, my son," 
said the inventor, " will nobly aid the art of printing. 




( From an old painting 



A FAILURE. 151 

Abide with us, devote your talents to the art, and 
you shall not be the loser." 

" You do me too much honor," replied Peter. 
u I shall only be too happy to serve thee in my 
former capacity. I feel that I have everything to 
learn in this invention, which has made such ad- 
vancement in my absence." 

Gutenberg was by no means a good penman, 
neither could he cut very legible letters in type. 

But what Gutenberg lacked, Peter Schoeffer 
could supply, and the type which was made after 
he joined the firm, showed the benefit of his cooper- 
ation. 

As the wooden type had in a measure failed, 
from the necessity of frequent renewal, the com- 
pany gradually substituted letters of lead. John 
Faust and Schoeffer entered with much interest 
upon the experiment of using lead, sanguine of its 
success. They still confined themselves to printing 
the elementary books. They found no difficulty in 
cutting the letters with precision, and they could 
put them together as well as those of wood ; they 
had trouble, however, in printing with them. The 
metal was so soft that it required the nicest skill 
in turning the screw, as it would scarcely bear 
sufficient pressure to print. 

See Gutenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer, and the dif- 
ferent members of the firm, around the press in al- 



152 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

most breathless suspense at the trial of the leaden 
type ! 

" This will never do," exclaimed Faust in dismay, 
as the proof-sheet was drawn out, after Gutenberg 
had turned the screw. Some of the type were so 
much bent as to spoil the letters ; others did not 
print at all. The experiment was a failure. 

" Patience ! " cried the inventor, "we shall yet 
succeed. Turn you to your type-setting, and let 
me manage the press ; " and thus he spent the re- 
mainder of the day. Working it by himself, he 
found that if the screw was turned to a given point, 
it would, under his hand, print without injuring the 
type ; but when another took his place, it was sure 
to be marred. 

The artisans were much depressed when they 
separated for the night. Gutenberg invited Schoef- 
fer home to supper, that he might talk over the 
matter. 

" The lead type is plainly too soft," remarked 
Gutenberg as they sat by the cheerful fire in his 
own room in the Zum Jungen. " What we want 
is softness and strength, a mixture of qualities. 
Another metal should be added." 

" Have you tried iron ? " asked Peter. 

" Aye, some time since," was the answer ; " but 
it pierced the paper so that it could not he used." 

Bach then simu'ested and discussed different com- 



SCHOEFFER'S INVENTION. 153 

binations of metals, and decided to try experiments 
until the right alloy was found. And thus the 
evening wore away. 

One suggestive intellect stirs another. As the 
flint elicits the spark from the steel, so two minds 
may jointly originate a new thought. Under Gu- 
tenberg's influence the workings of Peter Schoeffer's 
active brain took shape, and all the inventive fac- 
ulty within him was brought into exercise. 

Now it so happened, as Nieritz relates, that Peter 
was accustomed to experiment in metals, and the 
very next day, after sweating over the fire in the 
back office, brought in an amalgam which he 
thought might answer the purpose. It was a mix- 
ture of regulus of antimony and lead. This 
proved to be of the requisite softness and strength. 

The day of this discovery was an eventful one. 
It was Schoeffer's first invention. Faust called 
Gutenberg aside when he saw how well the new 
material worked, to congratulate him. 

" Good teachers produce apt scholars," said he, 
patronizingly patting Gutenberg's shoulder. " I 
must wish thee joy of thy apprentice. He takes 
to the art like a kitten to milk. We must make 
him one of the firm.' 5 

" He is an ingenious workman," returned Guten- 
berg, " and we need all the ability of this kind that 



154 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

we can command, for difficulties often occur. I 
also am in favor of making him a partner." 

"Moreover, it is so pleasant to have another with 
us whom we can trust," added Faust, " and an old 
acquaintance of yours. I am suspicious of strangers. 
Our success depends mainly on keeping our se- 
cret." 

Happily Schoeffer did not hear all the praise lav- 
ished upon him, but he heard enough to incite him 
to diligence and perseverance. Gutenberg was 
justly proud of him, and grateful to the kind 
Providence that had sent him to the Zum Jun- 
gen. 





XV. 

Sckoeffer admitted to the Firm. — A Grand Project. — How a Bi- 
ble was borrowed. — The Early Press. — Processes in Book- 

■ making. — Ingenuity of Peter Schoeffer. — Industry of the 
Firm. — Ink. — Cast Type. — Three Ingenious Men. — Letter- 
founding. — Faust compliments Peter. — The First Printed 
Page of the Bible. — A Memorable Year. 

"VTTE now view the first printing firm industri- 
* * ously cutting type from the metal introduced 
by Peter Schoeffer, who is one of the partners. Gu- 
tenberg, having fully tested it, found with joy that 
it was the long-sought composition. It was hard 
enough to bear the necessary pressure, and yet did 
not perforate the paper or vellum in printing. 

" This is most opportune to our need," said he 
to Peter ; " we can now begin to set type for the 
Bible. The lead stucke must be melted into the 
new mixture ; vou shall have charge of it, taking 
care to reserve some of the best letters for models. 
We must keep in mind that the care with which 
the letters are carved will determine the appear- 



156 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ance of the book. By lavishing time, ingenuity, and 
money on the Bible, the monks have produced some 
elaborate specimens. I see no reason why we may 
not rival them if we try." 

" Of all books the Bible should be in the highest 
style of our art," remarked Schoeffer. 

" True, it should be," replied Gutenberg ; " and 
as you have cultivated yourself in penmanship, I 
wish you to instruct the firm in type-cutting. I 
have thought of a plan by which we can have uni- 
form and elegant letters. It is that you write them 
on the ends of the metal strips, and let others carve 
the type from your pattern. This will insure us 
one style of handwriting throughout the Bible; 
ever keeping in mind that it is our aim to pro- 
duce the most beautiful book the world has ever 
seen, — for it is fitting that this book, of all others, 
should be Issued in the most excellent manner." 

"But," observed Peter, " how can we excel the 
monks, when one man spends a life-time on writing 
out and embellishing a Bible, and we can only de- 
vote a few years to it ? For instance, how can Ave 
ever bring our Bible to compare with the Silver 
Book in the care of Father Melchoir, the letters 
of which are mostly of silver, and the illustrations 
of gold? T had access to the Royal Library of 
France, in the Louvre. There I saw a copy of the 
Evangelists, written in liquid gold! I fear we shall 



A GRAND PROJECT. 157 

fail in magnificence, and give as great a contrast 
compared with these monks, as our plain printing- 
rooms form with that library, the floor of which 
is paved with marble, the walls decorated with glass 
and ivory, and the shelves and desks are of the 
costliest wood." 

" I shall not attempt to rival the monks in adorn- 
ing my Bibles with gold and silver," said Guten- 
berg; "if the letters are faultless, and the printing 
clear, we shall outvie them, and I am persuaded 
that we can effect this. It would be idle for us 
to print with gold, even if we had the abundance 
to warrant it. The monks are wealthy, and only 
lavish it on a single copy, once in many years ; 
while if we issue one Bible, we shall imprint more 
than a hundred ! " 

"Aye, indeed!" exclaimed Peter Schoeffer, 
" What a magnificent thought ! Truly we live in 
a wonderful age, when six men can make a hun- 
dred Bibles in six years ! " 

(But what would you say, Peter, could you wit- 
ness the lightning-feats of the steam-presses of this 
day, dashing off a thousand copies of the sacred vol- 
ume in one day ?) 

"And moreover," replied Gutenberg, "when 
we have disposed of one hundred copies, we can 
issue as many more in a shorter time." 

" That is most cheering," returned Schoeffer, 



158 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" and I will at once engage in my department of 
the work." 

The printing of the Bible was now the great en- 
terprise of the firm, smaller works being issued by 
way of preparation. While Peter Schoeffer super- 
intended type-cutting, and the office w^ork went on 
as usual, there w r ere long and earnest consultations 
as to the best course to pursue in obtaining a Bible 
for a copy. If Gutenberg or Faust bargained for 
one with the Abbot of a monastery, inquiries would 
be made which they wished not to answer. 

"If I had the money to deposit for a Bible," 
said Martin Duttlinger, " I could easily obtain one." 

" And the money we expect to furnish, of 
course," said Faust. "No one can borrow so 
valuable a piece of property as a Bible, without 
the same as buying it." 

It was accordingly arranged that Martin Dutt- 
linger, who was the most trusty of their workmen, 
should be charged with the mission of buying a 
Bible of Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, who was 
known to have books for sale ; and Martin was 
accordingly fitted off. After his departure, affairs 
went on with the firm much as usual, save that they 
felt the impulse which the resolve of engaging in 
the noblest enterprise on earth could not fail to 
give ; and who can doubt that the smile of God's 
countenance rested en them, lightening their toil? 




ANCIENT PRESS. 



THE EARLY PRESS. 159 

Gutenberg and Faust advised much together re- 
specting the improved printing machine they were 
adjusting, and Schoeffer made rapid improvement 
in his particular branch of the art. 

Gutenberg's press was very simple in construc- 
tion, — -a board acted on by a screw, like a cheese- 
press. On this board the type was placed inclosed 
in a frame, then inked ; the paper was then laid 
over them, and the screw turned by a lever with 
the hand. In constructing this press, he had two 
upright posts of great strength, seven feet and a 
half high, placed four feet apart, and fastened to- 
gether at the top and bottom by two stout cross- 
pieces. In this frame an iron screw was made to 
work, by means of two parallel additional cross- 
pieces, about a foot and a half apart, connecting the 
perpendicular posts. From about the middle of 
each of these upright posts, three feet from the 
floor, a slide projected, called a rib ; these posts 
were parallel to each other, and firmly fitted, to 
bear a great weight. But these two points of the 
press, — the screw and the slide, — let us see of 
what use they were. A table was made to run in 
under the frame and out, the slide supporting it in 
place of legs. The screw worked in a box, called 
a hose, by means of a bar or lever inserted in it ; 
the toe, or lower end of the screw, working in a 
sort of cup fixed upon a large block of dense wood, 



160 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

having the face planed smooth, and called the platen. 
By turning down the bar, the screw forced down 
the platen, which was fastened to it, just as far as 
it descended ; when the screw was raised, the 
platen was also raised. 

The frame or chase which contained the type be- 
ing fixed upon the table, it was made to slide back- 
wards and forwards as was needed. For example, 
when the type was ready to be pressed, having been 
previously inked, and the paper laid upon it, the 
workman slid it under the platen ; and after the 
screw was turned down, and the platen had pressed 
it, or the printing was done, he slid it out. 

The inking balls were constructed of a variety of 
things, and at length the printers used those which 
were made of sheep's felt. 

A sheet of paper being placed upon the type, the 
form was slid directly under the platen ; and this 
being pressed down by a handle turning the screw, 
the paper was printed. 

This press served very well then, and even al- 
most to our own day ; a similar one is sometimes 
to be seen now, where common rough printing 
is required. 

The press-work, being very toilsome, was done by 
tarns, <>ih 4 man plying it a certain number of hours, 
then another taking his place. The Alphabet, with 
the " Lord's Prayer," the u Address to the Virgin 



INGENUITY OF PETER SCHOEFFER. 161 

Mary," a " Dictionary," and a " Donatus," were 
the first works printed with the improved press, 
and separate types. 

Each of these first printers was eminently practi- 
cal. Had they been otherwise, never could so 
great a work have been executed. It is now neces- 
sary to employ as many as twelve trades to publish 
a Bible. These are type-founders, printers' joiners, 
iron-founders, paper-makers, wholesale stationers, 
letter-press printers, printing-ink makers, composi- 
tion-roller makers, engravers on wood, lithographic 
printers, hot-pressers, and book-binders. But those 
three men, of whom Gutenberg was chief, wrought 
at most of these branches of business with their 
own hands, or by the workmen whom they taught, 
in the printing rooms of the Zum Jungen. 

Schoeffer had great skill and facility in getting 
out the cut type, as well as in directing others to 
work after his models. When he had wrought at 
it some time and prepared a quantity of type, Gu- 
tenberg said to him, — 

" Our initial letters must be illuminated, 
and as you have had much practice in this depart- 
ment of writing, being an illuminator of manuscript 
works, I doubt not you will execute them as they 
should be." 

" I will do my best," replied Schoeffer, pleasantly. 

The result was that in a short time he had de- 
ll 



162 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

signed and cut a number of illuminated letters, to 
be used at the beginning of chapters. As a speci- 
men of his handiwork, we give the initial B, taken 
from a work of the Mentz press, and described on 
the following page. 

Let us carefully notice this exquisite letter. On 
the left hand are elaborated fern leaves and other 
foliage ; while the centre is dense with climbing 
luxuriance. On the right, in the broad curves of 
the initial, are delicate flowers suggestive of snow 
crystals, cerastium, and mignonnette, — dainty bits 
of infloresence just fitted to alight with feathery 
footfall on the back of the elephantine letter. On 
the other side is a bird taking its flight, and a dog 
pursuing. The letter itself originally was in pale 
blue, the ornaments in which it was placed being 
red; the figures and flowers were transparent and 
white, as well as the vellum on which the book was 
printed ; showing that the art of engraving was no 
longer in its infancy, and also that the artist was 
well practiced in his profession. 

Well done, Peter Schoeffer ! we cannot suffi- 
ciently admire thy taste, patience, and persever- 
ance. What an infinite deal of labor and pains it 
cost thee to designed engrave hundreds of these 
illuminated letters for the Bible! Besides, there 
was the general superintendence of type-cutting; 
for every letter was drafted by the same hand. We 



INDUSTRY OF THE FIRM. — INK. 163 

are puzzled to think where you acquired your skill. 
It is said that you were famously started under the 
fostering care of Father Melchoir, himself a good 
copyist, and then improved your style by two years' 
application at the University of Paris. And all 
this that the Bible may be fittingly printed ! Little 
did you think when a student at the Cathedral of 
Strasbourg, for what you were studying. Neither 
did it occur to you while your eye was schooled for 
the conception, and your hand for the execution of 
beauty, at Paris, for what you were preparing. 

In due time Martin returned from his mission, 
bearing a Bible in manuscript, in a satchel on his 
back, and great were the rejoicings and congratula- 
tions of the firm and their families. 

Gutenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer now became 
more and more absorbed in the various divisions 
of the art of printing, preparatory to setting the 
Bible in type in the best style. 

The simple branch of inventing and making ink, 
for example, cost time and patience ; many experi- 
ments being tried before the right combination was 
found. Common writing ink would not answer, 
being so liquid as to deface the paper with blots. 
Finally, a mixture of linseed oil and lamp-black or 
soot was tried, and found to possess the right con- 
sistence. They succeeded so well in compounding 
it that, as one has said, " their works show a depth 



164 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

and richness of color which excites the envy of the 
moderns ; nor has it turned brown, or rendered 
the surrounding paper in the least degree dingy." 
It was applied to the type by dabbers. These were 
balls of skin stuffed with wool, precisely like those 
used forty years ago. The types were disposed in 
cases much as they are now. 

The firm was getting on finely, having prepared 
several hundred pounds' weight of type for the Bi- 
ble, when Schoeffer, getting weary of this monoto- 
nous cutting, " and being ardently desirous to im- 
prove the art," bethought him of trying to invent 
a simpler and speedier method of preparing type. 

It is interesting to follow this scribe, belonging 
to an ancient and honorable craft, as he helped 
pull it down to build up one infinitely better. It 
was like taking down a cottage from a goodly site, 
to make room for a Crystal Palace that would last 
through all time. Not that Schoeffer was alone in 
this enterprise ; he simply aided others. He may 
have suggested the new device of casting type, and 
indeed some £0 a s far as to mve him the entire 
credit of the conception and execution of this pro- 
cess. He had taste, culture, and adaptation to cir- 
cumstances; Gutenberg was ingenious, and Faust 
wealthy; and there was every motive to arouse 
Schoeffer'a mind to activity. Says a discriminating 
English writer, " It seems most probable that where 



CAST TYPE. 165 

three ingenious men are bound together by art and 
interest, no one of them can lay exclusive claim to 
any invention or undertaking executed in the work- 
shops and for mutual benefit. Allowing, therefore, 
to Schoeffer the honor of having hinted the plan, 
the other two may fairly put in a claim for their 
portion of the credit on the score of their assistance, 
especially since Gutenberg and Faust, being me- 
chanics, would have engaged and directed the work- 
men." 

Evidently at the suggestion of Schoeffer, the firm 
began to take casts of type in moulds of plaster. 
This improvement on the old method was really a 
great step onward, although the process of casting 
was slow and tedious. A new mould was required 
for each letter ; and let the workman be ever so 
vigilant, no care could enable, him to impress fully 
and steadily into a soft substance so small a thing 
as a type is at the face, while yet so long in the 
shank ; accordingly, when he succeeded well in his 
attempt, after the casting, there was a process of 
finishing, to give it the well-defined sharpness abso- 
lutely necessary in type. This improvement there- 
fore was rather unsatisfactory, and led to much 
consultation of the printers how they could carry it 
still further. And here Peter Schoeffer' s practical 
talent appeared ; for " it was he who first planned 
the cutting of punches, whereby not only might the 



166 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

most beautiful form of type the taste and skill of 
the artist could suggest, be fairly stamped upon the 
matrix, but a degree of finish quite unattainable in 
type cut in metal or wood could be given to the 
face ; whilst to the shank, by the very same process 
by which the face was cast, the mould would give 
perfect sharpness and precision of angle." 

History relates that Peter Schoeffer privately cut 
matrices for the whole alphabet, and showed the 
letters cast from them to Gutenberg and Faust. 

" Are these letters cast in moulds ? " asked the 
latter, in great astonishment. 

" They are," replied Schoeffer. 

u Mirabile! this surpasses all!" exclaimed he. 
" Why, you are showing yourself a great genius, I 
must acknowledge. How old are you ? " 

" Twenty-eight ! " replied Peter. 

" I seldom flatter, but you are a young man of 
promise ; and I predict that you will make your 
mark in the world ! I suppose you think that is 
slight praise, for a practiced scribe ought to be able 
to write his name in gold letters, — making his 
mark is said of those who can only make a mark 
for their name;" and Faust laughed at his own 
wit. u But you know what I mean. In my opin- 
ion, you will yet come to distinction ! " 

But how shall we describe the emotions of those 
first printers, those cool yet enthusiastic men, as they 



FIRST PRINTED PAGE OF THE BIBLE. 167 

beheld the first printed page of the Bible ! The 
press worked admirably ; the type was uniform and 
elegant ; and the expression given on the vellum, 
unequaled in beauty. At sight of it a glow of 
honest pride filled each heart ; and how could the 
most undevout repress emotions of praise to God ? 
We have a glimpse of the little company in the 
frontispiece, taken from an old painting. This was 
in the spring of 1450, a year memorable as com- 
mencing the issue of the famous Mazarine Bible. 
But with all the toil and diligence bestowed upon 
it, it was not completed until five years after, in 

1455. 





XVI. 

Faust's Discontent. — Conspiracy against Gutenberg. — A Se- 
cret kept. — The Lawsuit. — Gutenberg supplanted. — A New 
Firm. — Gutenberg's Sorrow. 



TT was now in the early part of October, 1455 ; 
, and of late, Faust, to whom history gives the 
title of Doctor, had become dissatisfied with Guten- 
berg, on the ground that returns did not come in 
fast enough for the money invested. The Bible 
had been issued, it is true ; but as it had been at 
great expense, and its sale was small, his enthusi- 
asm in regard to it declined ; and although once so 
warm a friend and patron of Gutenberg, he grew 
cold-hearted and scheming. He was, however, in- 
creasingly cordial to Peter Schoeffer, and one day 
invited him to supper. Flattered by the attention, 
Peter appeared promptly at the rooms of the Doctor, 
lii- toilel made with unusual care. It was in the 
early evening, and a lire was being kindled in the 
large room into which Peter was ushered. Madam 
Faust, an invalid, sat in her arm-chair wrapped in a 



FAUSTS DISCONTENT. 169 

shawl, to shield her from the chilliness, as a driving 
rain was pelting without. Christiane, the daughter, 
a young lady of twenty-five, — and Peter thought 
he never saw her look more beautiful, — cordially 
greeted him, and placed a seat for him. 

" Good-evening, master ! " said Faust urbanely, 
rising and shaking his hand. " Sit nearer the fire, 
master ; the room will be warm soon." 

In the course of the conversation which followed, 
Faust said, " Gutenberg gaineth little in inventing. 
According to my thinking, he cannot be named the 
same day with yourself, Peter. You devised the 
ink, the forms for casting type, and the mixture of 
metals ; and these are nearly all that has been in- 
vented. I regret to say it, but it would be a good 
thing; for the firm if Gutenberg would even retire, 
so great is his extravagance. Why, he expended 
4,000 florins before the Bible was half done ! How 
he can ever pay me for the sums I let him have, I 
do not comprehend." 

" Economy is certainly useful," observed Peter 
in a general way. 

" A just and sensible remark," replied Faust. 
" Your printer's ink shows that you mean what you 
say ; it is admirable, it is so cheap." 

" I am glad you think so, master," replied Peter, 
glancing with a proud flush at Christiane. 

" I often sav to my wife and daughter," contin- 



170 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ued Faust, " that if justice were done, you would 
be the acknowledged inventor, since you are con- 
tinually making improvements, while he invents 
nothing, so to speak. Moreover, he is extravagant, 
and the business will be ridden to death with debt." 

Peter was more than gratified that his efforts 
were appreciated by the Doctor ; but he revered 
Gutenberg, and was shocked at the proposal to 
eject him from the business, and he ventured to 
say, — 

" I owe much to Master Gutenberg." 

"True," replied Faust; " but if you were not 
dependent, you would acquire more in one week by 
your unfailing genius than he could impart in a 
year. The faculty to contrive and discover is in 
you ; and if we were once rid of him, a great reve- 
nue would accrue. In due time you would be rich 
and renowned." 

The fire burned briskly, throwing out a genial 
warmth ; the watch-dog basked on his mat, open- 
ing and shutting his eyes in calm content ; Madam 
Faust's delicate face became pink in the ruddy 
glow ; Christiane's cheeks were abloom ; the kettle 
Bang from its long hook on the crane ; a servant 
glided softly around as she laid the table. Peter 
fell into a dreamy abstraction. 

" [f 1 could even do it honorably," he murmured 
half unconsciously. 



CONSPIRACY AGAINST GUTENBERG. 171 

" Honorably ! certainly thou canst," emphatically 
returned Faust. " Dost thou think I would coun- 
sel thee to do that which would be otherwise ? 
Business is business, and one must look out first for 
one's self. Thou mayest have qualms of diffidence 
in severing the old tie, having served so faithfully 
under him ; but we will be answerable for the 
change ; we will see that he retires from the firm, 
and thou shalt not be blamed. Agreeing to this, I 
will insure thee the use of my money to the extent 
of my means." 

" Wife, I hope you have something palatable for 
Master Schoeffer," said Faust, as all were seated 
by the table, and he helped his guest. Then, re- 
turning to the subject of their conversation, — 

" Aye, leave me alone in disposing of this matter. 
I've a little case in law, which, for my brother's 
sake, I shall set afoot. Gutenberg is culpably 
careless of money. It is shocking to see one thus 
making shipwreck of conscience. Of the 2,020 
florins which I lent him, he has not returned one 
obolus. He has not even paid the interest." 

" He has not ! " exclaimed Peter. " What can 
he be thinking of ? " 

"Of himself," replied Faust. "As long as he 
has money, what cares he who goes without ? I 
can only do business in a business way ; and I 
shall immediately call him to account ; and, Master 



172 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



Schoeffer, our firm shall be established on a firm 
basis." 

Poor Peter was too well pleased with Faust's flat- 
teries, and, yielding to the stronger will of his host, 
had listened to adroit insinuations against Guten- 
berg until his heart grew hard. The Doctor was 
quick at reading character, and knew how to turn 
Peter's interest in Christiane to account, and, when 
his guest rose to leave, said, — 

" But, Master Schoeffer, you are by far too in- 
dustrious. You are worn with work, and need re- 
laxation. You ought at least to devote these mag- 
nificent moonlight evenings to recreation. My boat 
is always at your service, and here's Christiane — 
if you cannot find better company — give her an 
airing on our beautiful river." 

Schoeffer had often raised his eyes from his work 
to glance at the lovely vision of Christiane, as she 
flitted by on her morning rambles ; but, proud and 
retiring, had felt the pecuniary distance there was 
between her father and himself; and though he 
sometimes fancied she was not indifferent to his ad- 
miration, they had not until that evening spoken to- 
gether. It seemed like a dream ; for now in her 
presence her lather had lavished attentions upon 
him, and predicted for him fame and fortune. 

The next morning, Gutenberg, in order to urge 
on the work, early toiled at the press-work of the 



A SECRET KEPT. 173 

Bible ; for so slow and laborious was the process 
that comparatively few copies were completed. 

"Good-morning, Peter," said he, unsuspicious 
of evil, as Schoeffer entered, and a workman took 
his place at the press. " You have not told me by 
what proportion of metals you have secured the 
requisite strength and softness of type." 

u Excuse me, Master," replied Peter with half 
averted face, " let me keep that little secret. I may 
have to try again." Gutenberg was grieved by 
the answer as only a noble and sensitive mind can 
be by the slights of one who has been nourished 
like a child. He resumed his work, while the fore- 
boding of the approaching storm fell on his spirit 
like a dark shadow. 

Peter felt ill at ease ; and a consciousness of the 
despicable part he was playing, at times brought 
the mantling blush of shame to his cheek ; but he 
hardened himself against conviction, by magnify- 
ing his own improvements and dreaming of future 
greatness. Besides, he had really been prejudiced 
by Faust against Gutenberg, and his mind was 
much occupied with the image of the amiable and 
charming Christiane ; and he feared to offend the 
father lest he might not win the daughter. 

" When do you propose to pay me ? " abruptly 
asked John Faust of Gutenberg some days later. 

" Pay you ! " ejaculated the other in great sur- 
prise, " I am not aware that I owe you anything ! " 



174 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

u Not aware of it ! " angrily retorted the Doctor. 
" Not aware of the 2,020 florins and other large 
sums I lent you! I will give you thirty days in 
which to pay the debt ; and if then you fail to do 
so, I shall take measures to collect it ! " 

" Hard conditions truly, even supposing I owed 
you ! But the sums you mention were used for 
our common benefit, and we are in the midst of our 
first edition of the Bible. I have no way of rais- 
ing money save from its sale, which it will take 
months to effect." 

" That is not to the point," replied Faust. " I 
want the money, and the money I must have. My 
brother James advanced it." 

" But how am I to procure it? Would you ruin 
me?" 

" Am I to devise means for you to pay your 
debts to me ? " was the heartless rejoinder. " The 
money I must have ; and if you are an honest 
man, you will pay it : understand me ! " and Faust 
abruptly left. As he had entered, Peter was miss- 
ing, and did not soon return. Gutenberg had only 
Martin and Hanau with him, and was too much 
overcome to speak. Was it for this that lie had 
climbed almost to the pinnacle of his hopes ? Mar- 
tin was full of sympathy, and even Hanau's vacillat- 
ing heart was touched. Gutenberg saw that Faust 
and Schoeffer were leagued against him. The 



THE LAWSUIT. 175 

barbed iron had pierced his roul. Press-work and 
proof-reading were not to be thought of. He 
sought his room in the lethargy of despair. The 
prospect that the printing of the glorious Bible 
would be arrested, the fear that his beloved art 
would be torn from him, appalled him. Days 
passed, the darkness of affliction continued un- 
broken. Anna feared that he would sink under 
his load. True wife that she was, she intuitively 
understood, soothed, and offered him the comforts 
of faitli and trust, and bore his burdens like a 
very heroine. She was his ministering angel, and 
at length he emerged from his gloom in a measure 
and returned to the printing rooms, still oppressed 
with the thought that he had been cruelly 
wounded in the house of his friends. 

Punctual to the day the Doctor appeared, accom- 
panied by his brother, James Faust ; the former 
having of late partly resumed goldsmithing, al- 
though still a member of the firm. 

" The month has expired, and I have come for 
the money ! " said Faust. 

" I have not been able to raise it," replied Gu- 
tenberg. 

" But it is high time that it w r as paid," said John 
Faust. " It is nearlv five vears since it was bor- 
rowed. You promised that we should make our 
fortunes loner before this." 



176 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

" I did not name the time of paying any sum," 
returned the inventor, " nor did I borrow the 
money, but it was put into the firm for our mutual 
advantage. You were, moreover, to pay me eight 
hundred florins for my personal use, in considera- 
tion of my teaching you the secrets of my art. 
This was not paid me, but was put into the funds 
of the association for our joint benefit." 

" It was borrowed money, every florin ! " cried 
Faust, " and you are holden for it. If no time was 
specified for payment, on demand is of course un- 
derstood." 

" As to the other sums," continued Gutenberg, 
" I can give you an exact account of them ; but 
I am not liable for the interest, since you had an 
equivalent for my use of the money, and indeed 
appropriated it equally with myself." 

" There is a way of settling that point," signifi- 
cantly remarked James Faust, as the two took 
leave ; and shortly he instituted a process of law, 
and procured from the notary public the following 
document : — 

" To the glory of God, Amen. Be it known to 
all those who see or read this instrument, that in 
the year of our Lord 1455, third Lildiction, Thurs- 
day, 6th day of November, the first year of the 
Pontificate of our very Holy Father the Tope Ca- 
lixtus III., approved here at Mayence, in the great 



THE LAWSUIT. 177 

parlor of the Barefooted Friars, between 11 o'clock 
and midday, before me, the notary, and the under- 
signed witnesses, the honorable and discreet person 
James Faust, citizen of Mayence, who in the name 
of his brother, John Faust, also present, has said 
and declared clearly that on this said day at the 
present hour, and in the same parlor of the Bare- 
footed Friars, John Gutenberg should see and hear 
taken by John Faust an oath conformably to a sen- 
tence pronounced between them. And this sen- 
tence read in the presence of the Honorable Henry 
Gunter, Cure of St. Christopher's of Mayence, of 
Henry Keffler, and De Becktoff de Hanau, servant 
and valet of the said Gutenberg : John Faust, plac- 
ing his hand upon the Holy Evangelists, has sw^orn 
between the hands of me, the notary public, com- 
formable to the sentence pronounced, and has taken 
the following oath, word for word : ' I, John Faust, 
have borrowed 1,550 florins, which I have transmit- 
ted to John Gutenberg, which have been employed 
for our common labor, and of which I have paid 
the rent and annual interest, of which I still owe 
a part. Reckoning therefore for each hundred flo- 
rins borrowed, six florins per annum, I demand of 
him the repayment, and the interest, conformably 
to the sentence pronounced, which I will prove in 
equity to be legal, in consequence of my claim upon 
the said John Gutenberg.' In presence of the 

12 



178 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Honorable H. Gunter, of Henry Keffler, and of 
Becktoff de Hanau aforesaid, John Faust has de- 
manded of me an authentic instrument to serve him 
as much and as often as he hath need, and in the 
faith of which I have signed this instrument, and 
have set thereto my seal." 

The law took its course. The inexorable judges 
made no allowance for the peculiar circumstances 
of the case, but gave judgment against Gutenberg, 
awarding that he should pay to Faust whatever he 
had borrowed, with interest. This decision was 
made November 1455. As Gutenberg had no means 
of paying the sums demanded, Faust took possession 
of his presses, type, printing materials, and the 
copies of the Bible, finished and unfinished. 

Gutenberg had been sustained, during the sitting 
of the court in the parlor of the Barefoot Friars, 
by the suspense and excitement of the scene. He 
had hoped for justice, or at least for a more favora- 
ble decision ; but instead of that, everything was 
taken from him. Reaching home, he knew not 
how, after long wandering in unfrequented places, 
he threw himself upon his couch, and made no re- 
ply to the affectionate inquiries of Anna. She 
knew that the cause had gone against him, and that 
he was in the extremity of trouble. As he gave 
way to his trial, although herself in deep grief, her 
heart somehow grew stronger. There had been a 



GUTENBERG SUPPLANTED. 179 

marked chancre in her since residinor at the Zum 
Jungen. As she realized that good would result 
from her husband's inventions, she strove to en- 
courage him in his devotion to his art. In his de- 
spair, she was buoyed up by hope. For long hours 
he seemed scarcely to notice her gentle presence. 
She did not disturb him with words ; but as the 
hours stole by, and his grief was heavy on him, she 
drew the curtains till the room was in the hush of 
twilight, hoping that balmy sleep would overtake 
him ; then, sitting by his side, she prayed earnestly, 
silently, for him. When he awoke after a refresh- 
ing sleep, he was more like himself. 

" Dost thou know, my Anna," he calmly said, 
" that Faust has laid claim to everything, includ- 
ing my presses, stucke, and the printed pages of 
the Holy Bible now ready to be Found ? " 

" Can it be possible ? " ejaculated Anna in dis- 
may. 

" And I am worse than penniless," he added. 
" My noble art is at an end. That which I most 
feared has come upon me. Others have stolen my 
invention and I have nothing left." 

" But we are taught by our holy religion," she 
quickly responded, brushing away her tears, " that 
it is good to trust in the Lord in times of trouble, 
and if we have faith in him, he will deliver us." 

Yet sorely was the inventor tried ; and month 



180 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

after month, the weary time crept on, Gutenberg 
and Anna in poverty and affliction. 

Meanwhile Faust, having taken possession of 
everything that could be called Gutenberg's, organ- 
ized a new company by associating Schoeffer and 
others with himself, and finished binding the re- 
maining copies of the Bible as rapidly as possible. 
As Faust and Schoeffer examined it anew, they 
were filled with admiration. 

" This book will bring handsome returns, Pe- 
ter," said the former, " if we manage wisely. My 
brother is of opinion that I can sell fifty copies in 
Paris alone ! " 

44 A happy suggestion ! " was the reply. 

14 And I must go at once," said Faust ; and, with 
characteristic energy, he commenced making prep- 
arations for the journey. As a sufficient number 
of Bibles were ready for the present demand, 
Schoeffer and the journeymen were to employ 
themselves in issuing " Litterariae Indulgentiae," a 
one page work much prized by the monks. 

Schoeffer had now been married to Faust's 
daughter for some months, and was an honored 
member of the firm. But although his worldly pros- 
pects were fair, yet he was [ess happy than he had 
imagined, and the memory of his old master's kind- 
ness often brought penitent tears to his eyes. He 
longed to see him, as formerly, the ruling spirit in 



SCHOEFFER ILL AT EASE. 181 

the printing rooms, but had not moral courage and 
decision of purpose enough to say this in the pres- 
ence of Faust. Besides, he still wished to appro- 
priate riches and fame to himself. So he persisted 
in the wrong, salving his conscience with the prom- 
ise that he would at some time do right by Guten- 
berg. 





XVII. 

The Story of Faust's Visit to Paris. — Was it Witchcraft ? — 
Popular Excitement. — Scene in a Court Room. — Issue of the 
Psalter. 



/~\NE balmy morning in the spring of 1456, 
^-^ Faust, with a stock of beautifully bound Bibles, 
started for Paris, some four hundred miles distant. 
Sailing down the Rhine to Strasbourg, he then 
travelled by the public road over mountains and 
across the country nearly west to the French me- 
tropolis, then a long and toilsome journey. 

On his arrival, he engaged a shop on the Rue 
St. George, where he could safely store his treas- 
ures. 

Hastening to call upon the King, he made known 
liis errand and offered him a copy of the Bible for 
seven hundred and fifty crowns ! 

As the King examined it, he was delighted with 
the regular and beautiful writing. 

" It is true," said he, " that the scribes ask only 



FAUST'S VISIT TO PARIS. 183 

five and six hundred crowns for a copy of their 
Bible, but I have never seen anything equal to 
this ! I will gladly pay thee thy price, and consider 
it a rare bargain." 

Faust next sought out the Archbishop. 

"My" lord," he said, taking the large package 
from the porter who accompanied him, and unroll- 
ing it from its folds of vellum, "I have brought 
thee a Bible executed with great care and finish. 
Permit me to call thy attention to it." 

" It is very finely executed," observed the Arch- 
bishop as he turned its leaves. " What is your 
price I 

" Only three hundred crowns ! " answered Faust. 
• " I will willingly pay that," replied the Arch- 
bishop. "It is seldom that we can obtain a work 
made in this style, and so cheap. I am familiar 
with the copyists of monasteries, but have never 
met the monk that carried so even a hand ! " 

Making no explanations, Faust took the money, 
and returned to his lodgings on St. George's Street, 
where in a few days he privately sold some half- 
dozen more copies. Citizens now began to gather 
to admire the wonderful book. 

At first he only exhibited one at a time, and the 
impression went abroad that the books were very 
scarce ; hence people were more anxious to buy, 
and readily paid the fifty crowns which he asked 
lay purchasers. 



184 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

For a time each one who bought a Bible thought 
himself especially favored, supposing that his was 
the only copy of the kind to be found. As a writer 
has said, " The beauty of the work, the elegance 
of the flower-pieces, and the variety of the finest 
colors which were intermixed with gold and silver, 
led many persons to show their purchases to their 
friends, each one thinking, as he produced his, that 
the whole world could not contain such another." 

As for the Archbishop, he was so elated with his 
copy, that he could not rest until he had carried it 
to the King, who, greatly surprised, in return 
showed his own. On comparing them, they noticed 
that the ornaments were not exactly the same. 
They were not gilded precisely alike, and the ini- 
tial letters were painted differently. But in other 
respects, the part which they supposed written, the 
number of pages, lines, and letters were the same ; 
and they began to surmise that those Bibles were 
made in some new way. No man could have 
copied them both, and made them so entirely simi- 
lar. Besides, to write out two such Bibles would 
have exceeded the work of a man's life ; and the 
materials on which lie wrote would wax old with 
age meanwhile, but these were new and fresh. 
The King and the Archbishop were sorely puzzled ; 
and rumor was not long in bringing to their ears 
that Faust had sold quite a number, some at fifty 



WAS IT WITCHCRAFT? 185 

crowns, some at twelve, and others still as low as 
six pounds, while the supply continued equal to the 
demand. All Paris was agitated. 

" What can this mean? " said the Kino;. 

" What can this mean ? " echoed the Arch- 
bishop. 

" These books were made by no earthly power ! " 
exclaimed an ecclesiastic. 

"The Evil One had a hand in it!'' cried the 
ever-at-hand courtiers. 

And although the Bibles were beautiful, costly, 
and desirable, these good people deemed it neces- 
sary to put an immediate stop to their further sale. 
Much as they prized them, they could not encour- 
age collusion with the powers of darkness. In the 
midst of this excitement two professors of the Uni- 
versity of Paris, as Neiritz informs us, came in and 
purchased a Bible. A servant bore it after them as 
they left the shop. 

" Antoine," exclaimed one of them to the other, 
" it is a wonder to me how the German Doctor can 
afford to sell this Bible for six pounds ! Who ever 
saw such beautiful writing ? It is so uniform, I 
cannot cease admiring the book. Andre, bring it 
hither ! " and as the servant brought it forward, 
and it was again opened, a circle gathered to ex- 
amine it. 

u How very beautiful ! " exclaimed Professor 



186 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Antoine, " it scarcely could be done by mortal 
hands." 

"The thing is not possible!" said the brother 
professor. 

"It is done by the famous black art ! " affirmed 
a voice in the crowd. 

" Yes, look at those black pot-hooks and hang- 
ers ! " exclaimed another. 

" Father Clement says it is the work of magic 
and witchcraft ! " said a third. 

" The German Doctor has made a bargain with 
the Evil One, being taught the black art as an off- 
set for going to perdition." 

" Well, Antoine," remarked the first professor, 
mirthfully, " if magic and witchcraft can make 
Bibles in this style, keep them at it early and late, 
and get out of them all the good you can. Besides, 
a house divided against itself cannot stand." 

But people generally took the matter more to 
heart than did the genial professor, and, as they 
chatted about it and thought it over, were more and 
more satisfied that other than mortal hands had 
fabricated the Bibles. 

" Only to think of it, so many copies just alike, 
and made so rapidly! And the more you take 
a way from the shop, the more there are for sale ! 
Parisians are as quick-fingered as any other nation, 
but not one of our fleetest scribes can write in this 
way ; neither can any man do it ! " 



POPULAR EXCITEMENT. 187 

So the mob searched Faust's lodgings, or the 
shop on Rue St. George, and seized a great number 
of Bibles. " Behold,' ' said they when they saw the 
red ink with which they were embellished, " this is 
his blood ! " 

The city authorities were at once apprised that 
he was a magician ! And accordingly orders were 
given to apprehend Dr. Faust for being in league 
with Satan, and for dealing in the black art. 

" What have I clone ? " asked Dr. Faust, as the 
police officers appeared in his shop to take him. 

u Only a small thing truly ! " ironically replied 
one of them ; " this indictment says that you turn 
off books by witchcraft." 

11 Never ! " exclaimed Faust ; " I have made them 
in an honest way ! " 

But the officers shrugged their shoulders, and 
took him along. 

Faust was in trouble. If he confessed the truth, 
others would seize his art and profits ; and if he 
did not, his life might be sacrificed. While he was 
revolving the matter, he was thrust into prison. 

For once he was at his wit's end, and almost 
paralyzed by the turn affairs had taken. What! 
he, the man of wealth and the patron of printing, 
in prison, classed with felons ! It seemed to him 
like a horrible nightmare, only the chilliness of the 
cell and the damp straw brought on his old rheu- 



188 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



matism, reminding him too well that it was all 
reality. 

" I shall die here ! " he groaned, as he sleep- 
lessly tossed on the straw ; "I must reveal the 
secret, and save my life ! " Never was a more 
restless prisoner. Sleep ! he would as soon think 
of it on a plank in the open sea. In the morning 
the court set, and Faust was brought to the bar. 

Bibles were produced and compared, witnesses 
were not wanting, and the case was strong against 
him, when he was called on for his defense. Per- 
fectly calm, and self-possessed he thus addressed 
the judge : — 

" May it please your Honor : It is not the 
black art that I practice, but the art of printing. 
This newly discovered art was first devised by 
John Gutenberg of Mayence, and afterwards more 
fully improved by his journeyman, Peter Schoeffer, 
and myself. I can in a short time so describe the 
process to you that } r ou may yourself set type and 
print. We employ young men to help in the 
work, and there is no more black art in it than 
there is in planting a garden. Think you the Evil 
One would lend his aid to the work of multiplying 
copies of a hook that describes him and his wiles, 

warning men against him and predicting his doom ! 
Nay, your Honor, the thine is absurd. We Germans 

lead the way in this matter of printing books, — 




(!>« 



ISSUE OF THE PSALTER. 189 

begging your Honor's pardon, while I say it, — but 
it will not be long before printing machines will be 
common in Paris. 1 ' 

Such was Faust's defence, which so wrought up- 
on the lively crowd that they were enthusiastic in 
their cries of " Vive le Docteur ! vive le Djcteur!'' 
The magistrates eagerlv withdrew the charges 
against him ; and the sequel was that some of the 
nobility of Paris made him a magnificent pecuniary 
reward. 

When Faust returned from Paris, he prosecuted 
the business of printing with renewed energy. He 
could well do this, as his enterprise had been very 
remunerative. Besides issuing the " Litterariae In- 
dulgentise," he urged on the completion of the 
Psalter, an elaborate work which had been in press 
two vears and a half, before the lawsuit overtook 
the firm. As it was not published until August, 
1457, it was four years in being brought to perfec- 
tion. It bore the colophon of Faust and Schoeffer, 
and was the first book that had the name of the 
place where it was printed, the name of its printers, 
and the year when it was printed. 

That this elegant book was partly the work of 
Gutenberg, is evident from the fact that it was 
four years in being published, and was issued 
only eighteen months after the partnership was 
dissolved. 



190 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

It was printed in large cut type, with illuminated 
initials ; and as it is impossible that Gutenberg's 
works could have been undone, a new fount pre- 
pared, and so splendid a book printed, in so short a 
time, it is plain that this was the identical Psalter 
on which the labor of two years and a half had 
been expended, before Faust sued Gutenberg. It 
was the latter who proposed to bring it out, and 
who superintended the construction of the type 
and ornaments. The superb initial letters, of 
which the initial B in this volume is a specimen, 
were projected and criticised by Gutenberg. It is 
true that Schoeffer's practiced hand executed them, 
but the original idea was suggested by the leading 
spirit of the company. 

Yet this Psalter appeared in 1457 with the colo- 
phon or monogram of Faust and Schoeffer. 




This was a device indicating something respect- 
ing the authors or proprietors of a volume, and, 
in this case, was composed of two 0£U$, or shields, 
which were taken from the armorial bearings of 



THE COLOPHON. 191 

their families. As Gutenberg was of the nobility, 
some have affirmed that the monogram alluded to 
was his device, and adopted by the three partners 
before they separated ; if otherwise, and it simply 
referred to Faust and Schoeffer, these partners did 
an act of great injustice in omitting his name from 
the colophon or conclusion of the Psalter. 





XVIII. 

New Friends. — The Nun. — Gutenberg at Work again. — Print- 
ing of the "Balbus de Janua." — Other Works. — A Curious 
Record. — Death of the Great Inventor. — Fadeless Laurels. 

~V\TAS the art for which Gutenberg had toiled all 

* his life, forever to be torn from him, and his 

rivals alone garner the fruits ? In his despondency 

Anna was hopeful. She would often say to him, — 

" There will be a way of deliverance. Thou 
has wintered with misfortunes ere this, and earnest 
forth unharmed ; and now, even if everything is 
taken, God can change the hearts of those who 
have wronged thee, and incline others to enlist in 
thy behalf." 

" Those are noble sentiments," Gutenberg 
would reply; " and if all things else are adverse, 
my Anna is true, and gives me good counsel/' 

Genuine faith is never unrewarded ; and as if to 
encourage Anna, about this time Friele Gutenberg, 
having returned from Venice, where he had spent 
some years, visited his brother at the Zuin Jungen. 
Gutenberg told him the story of his art, and how, 



NEW FRIENDS. 193 

when he had nearly completed the Bible, he was 
overwhelmed by a lawsuit, being unjustly required 
to pay money to Faust before he could raise any- 
thing from the sales. 

Friele was shocked at the recital; and at his 
request Gutenberg conducted him to the printing 
rooms, and showed him copies of the Bible. 

" Why," exclaimed Friele, " this is indeed won- 
derful ! It is the most beautiful book I ever be- 
held. And is the issuing of it entirely taken out 
of thy hands, my brother ? " 

"It is even so," was the reply. " I have been 
constrained to retire from the firm, and have no 
means to prosecute the art which has been the 
study of my life." 

" But yours is a success," said Friele. " You 
ought to be encouraged. I will aid you to the ex- 
tent of my ability, and influence my friends to do 
something for you. There is also something due 
you from our father's estate, which will soon be set- 
tled ; and this, with other sums, will establish you 
in business under favorable auspices." 

This was so unexpected that Gutenberg, over- 
come, could only press his brother's hand in grate- 
ful silence. 

Friele's sympathies were indeed earnestly enlist- 
ed in his brother's cause. The injustice and ingrati- 
tude of Faust and SchoefFer stirred his indignation, 
13 



194 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

and he resolved that the true inventor should again 
engage in his chosen vocation. He soon sought out 
his sister Hebele, who, although a nun in the St. 
Claire Convent, was not wholly inaccessible to her 
brothers. She retained her old affection for her 
favorite John, and, on hearing Friele's' rehearsal of 
his successful invention and subsequent losses, volun- 
tarily offered to loan him the sixty florins which was 
soon to be paid her from the estate of her father. 

"My noble Hebele ! " exclaimed Friele enthusi- 
astically, " that is so like thyself! How it will en- 
courage John ! I will do as much on my part, and 
I doubt not we shall soon have the gratification of 
again seeing him prosperously printing." 

Friele was a man of standing and influence in the 
city, and lost no time in conferring with his friend, 
Conrad Humery, Syndic of Mentz. This good dig- 
nitary became so deeply interested in Friele's ac- 
counts of his brother John's struggles, triumphs, 
and wrongs, that he begged at once to be intro- 
duced to him. Friele accordingly accompanied him 
to the Zum Jungen, where they found John Guten- 
berg in a back room, busy polishing gems, and 
Anna diligent at her embroidery frame. 

The Syndic was past middle age, affable and 
easy, the goodness of his heart beaming in his ex- 
pressive eye and line countenance. Gutenberg felt 
acquainted with him almost intuitively, and, in an- 



THE SYNDIC. % 195 

swer to his kind inquiries, briefly related the history 

of his long experiments and checkered experiences. 

" That last lawsuit was most scandalous ! " said 

the Syndic ; " such a thing ought not to be toler- 

t/ ' OCT 

ated in Mentz ! Would that I had known of thy 
trial at the time ; I doubt not the case might have 
been adjudged differently. I will, however, do 
what I can for thee." 

He was as good as his word. Fully appreciating 
Gutenberg's estimable qualities, he even offered to 
lend him money, again to commence in business, 
and would, if desired, become a silent partner. 

This was most welcome to Gutenberg, and he 
cordially accepted his generous proposals. 

At Friele's suggestion, he lost no time in remov- 
ing into the mansion formerly occupied by his fa- 
ther, where his brother now lived. It was a fine old 
edifice, roomy, baronial, and substantial, dating back 
hundreds of years. It was in no sense inferior to 
the Zum Jungen ; and the inventor had a comforta- 
ble suite of family apartments, as well as conven- 
ient printing rooms. 

Previous to his removal, as he was making prep- 
arations to leave, Dr. Faust called on him, and, ex- 
tending his hand, said, — 

" I owe you many apologies, master, for my un- 
just treatment in the matter of the lawsuit. It 
costs me an effort to admit this ; but I feel that I 



196 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

have injured you, and must seek to make amends. 
I have been to Paris, engaged in the sale of Bibles, 
and have seen your connection with the art of print- 
ing as never before. Success lias softened and re- 
moved my prejudices ; and I shall have no peace of 
mind until you pardon me, and take your place in 
the firm." 

Gutenberg was both surprised and indignant. 
He had been foully wronged by Faust and Schoef- 
fer, and it seemed like adding insult to injury for 
them so late in the day to make amends by bald 
apologies. He had been too much hurt by their 
unkindness to think of resuming his former position 
as partner. 

" Moreover," urged Friele, to whom he confided 
the matter, " you cannot think of accepting merely 
nominal concessions. They do not frankly confess 
how cruelly they have wronged you. And were 
you to join the firm again without as public a con- 
fession as the insult they gave you, you would be 
wanting in self-respect. And what guarantee can 
you have that they will not treat you ill a second 
time? I counsel you to remove to the homestead, 
where you can have ample facilities for prosecuting 
your chosen employment." 

We can only conjecture the motives which in- 
fluenced Faust in liis apologies to Gutenberg. Per- 
haps, now that his pecuniary trial was over, he felt 



GUTENBERG AT WORK AGAIN. 197 

sincerely to regret the separation from the distin- 
guished man who he must fain acknowledge was 
the originator of the art which had brought fame 
and money to himself and partner. Or it may be 
that he dreaded his influence as a rival. 

Waiving Faust's proposal, Gutenberg hastened to 
established himself in the mansion of his ancestors. 

In resuming printing, he found much delay from 
the necessity of making everything anew. He had 
irrecoverably lost the labor of years. He must 
construct more presses, another set of punches, and 
new type. The presses were manufactured in as 
good style as those he had relinquished; but sadly 
he missed the nice execution of Schoeffer in getting 
up the punches and type. 

He was, it is true, aided by two of his old office 
workmen, — Martin and Hanau ; but his stucke was 
nevertheless inferior in finish to that which Schoef- 
fer devised. He would not, however, relinquish his 
enterprise on that account, but proceeded to print 
the " Balbus de Janua." 

" Why not print more Bibles ? " asked Martin 
Duttlinger in 1457, after they had issued the " Bal- 
bus de Janua." 

" My Bibles are being printed by others ! " re- 
plied the inventor, sadly. " This care is taken from 
me; but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it 
will be done as I planned it. I selected the vellum. 



198 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

How many journeys I made to the manufacturer 
to insure a good article ! How I criticised and ex- 
perimented with it until I succeeded in getting a 
smooth, fine texture ! The ink, too, what a labor it 
cost me ! And the regularity of setting up the 
page, — it was long before we attained it. The 
cutting of the type occupied us a long time until we 
found the method of casting it ; and now, with the 
help of punches, we can make the same elegant 
type. Why should I seek to issue another edition 
of the Bible, when my own is publishing ? I cannot 
compete as a salesman with Faust; and the present 
Bible which is printing is as really my own as an- 
other could be." 

" But will you not at least publish a Psalter? " 
" Not at present," replied Gutenberg ; " this which 
Faust and Schoeffer are issuing has been in press 
four years. When they thrust me from the firm, 
the type was in readiness, and a portion of it was 
set up. Two years and a half Ave had lavished 
skill and money upon it. This also I must consider 
mainly my own, as I planned to issue it, and super- 
intended the work. Others reap my harvest; but 
they cannot destroy the peace and satisfaction I en- 
joy in the consciousness of haying been the instru- 
ment of doing good." Tims did the truly great 
man put by all selfish considerations. 

However, lie continued to print various other 



A CURIOUS DEED. 199 

works, among which were the " Donatus," the 
" Catholicon," " Speculum Sacerdotum," " Cele- 
bratio Missarum," and others. 

There is on record a curious deed, or grant of 
property, which gives quite an inkling of his affairs 
in 1459, when his brother Friele was associated with 
him as a successful publisher. 

This Wal instrument is as follows : — 
" We, Henne (John) Gutenberg and Friele 
Gutenberg, brothers, do affirm and publicly de- 
clare by these presents, and make known to all, 
that with the advice and consent of our dear cous- 
ins, John and Friele ,and Perdiman Gensfleisch, 
brothers, of Mentz, we have renounced and do re- 
nounce by these presents, for us and for our heirs, 
simply, totally, and at once, without fraud and de- 
ceit, all the property which has passed by means of 
our sister Hebele to the Convent of St. Claire of 
Mentz, in which she has become a nun ; whether 
the said property has come to it on the part of our 
father, Henne Gensfliesch, who gave it himself, or 
in whatever manner the property may have come 
to it, whether in grain, ready money, furniture, 
jewels, or whatever it may be, that the respectable 
nuns, the abbess and sisters of the said convent, 
have received in common or individually, or other 
persons of the convent, from the said Hebele, be it 
little or much. . . . And as to the books 



200 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

which I, the said Henne (John), have given to the 
library of the convent, they are to remain there 
always and forever ; and I, the said Henne, propose 
also to give in future to the library of the said con- 
vent, for the use of the present and future nuns, for 
their religiovTs worship, either for reading or chant- 
ing, or in whatever manner they may wish to make 
use of them according to the rules of their order, 
all [that is, copies of alT\ the books which I, the said 
Henne, have printed up to this hour, or which I shall 
hereafter print, in such quantities as they may wish 
to make use of; and for this the said abbess, the 
successors, and nuns of the said Convent of St. 
Claire have declared and promised to acquit me 
and my heirs of the claim which my sister Hebele 
had to sixty florins which I and my brother Friele 
had promised to pay and deliver to the said Hebele 
as her portion and share arising from the house 
which Henne (John) our father assigned to him 
for his share, in virtue of the writings which were 
drawn up thereupon, without fraud and deceit. 
And in order that this may be observed by us, and 
by our heirs, steadfastly and to its full extent, we 
have given the said nuns and their convent and 
order these present writings, sealed with our seals. 
Sinned and delivered the year of the birth of J. C. 
1459, on the day of St. Margaret." 1 

1 Lamartine refers to an act of donating, made by Gutenberg 



DEATH OF ANNA. 201 

Although it is evident from this deed that Gu- 
tenberg was at this time successfully established in 
printing again by means of a further division of his 
father's estate, and by the aid of his friends, yet it 
also appears that his works were not remunerative. 
Comparatively few books were called for, — not 
only the books, but the market for them, had to be 
made ; and this, when we consider the competition 
of such a firm as Faust and Schoeffer, was no light 
affair. The worthy Syndic stood nobly by him, 
and his friends were kind and appreciative, or he 
had accomplished much less after the breaking up 
of his favorite projects at the Zum Jungen. 

But a sad and deeply afflictive event overtook 
him, which again threw his affairs into confusion. 
This was the sudden death of his beloved Anna, w T ho 
left his side with an angel's smile and words of 
triumph for the endless life. The unexpected blow 
completely unnerved him for a long time ; and even 
when the healing hand of time soothed the wound, 
he had no heart to go on with an art with which 
she was so intimately associated. 

Friele sympathized most deeply in his sorrow, 
and at length advised a change of scene and occu- 

to his sister Hebele, nun in the Convent of St. Claire at Mentz, 
by which lie put her in possession of the religious books which he 
had printed at Strasbourg, and made her the promise of sending her 
successively all tho=e which should issue from his press. 



202 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

pation. as antidotes to his grief. Accordingly he 
sold out his printing materials to the Syndic, Con- 
rad Humery, after some eight years' practicing of 
his art in the new firm. 

But he was not allowed to be forsaken in his old 
age. From letters patent, dated January 17, 1465, 
we learn that he was invited to enter the service of 
the Elector Adolphus of Nassau, as one of his band 
of gentlemen pensioners, with a handsome salary. 
Thus did he honorably retire from the practice of 
his loved art, secure in the thought that although 
it had cost him much tribulation, yet it was firmly 
established in doing its beneficent mission to the 
world. 

This was three years after the city of Mentz was 
sacked and plundered by Count Adolphus ; and 
while others were broken up in their avocations and 
forced to flee, he was spared from such a fate, and 
was promoted to his own appropriate honorable 
place in his native city. 

Thus peacefully and in useful duties did he go 
down the vale of life, until February 24, 1468, when 
he quitted this earthly scene, let us trust for the 
happier employments of the better world. His 
death seems like the calm, unclouded setting of the 
sun, after a tempestuous day. 

Sonic one has said that genius, in its general 
sense, is universal ; a possession belonging to all 



FADELESS LAURELS. 203 

men, in some degree. Its greatest achievement is 
not in a great poem or painting, or any other work 
of art, bnt in a great life ; and the strong heart 
and stout hands are its most miraculous organs. 
He who, by the majestic dignity of his daily walk, 
gives the beauty of truth to common life, is a great 
genius, — because he illustrates and sets forth, in 
its noblest form, virtue and true worth. 

So Gutenberg, after he had done the will of God, 
and had been led on to perfect the most glorious 
invention under the sun, had need of patience. 
The Heavenly Father would not permit so chosen 
a son to become perverted by unmingled pros- 
perity. 

Hence he suffered him to be disappointed, and 
the patient hero was evidently blessed by his trials. 
He became, if never before, that which so few at- 
tain, " commander of himself ; " and this, according 
to a wise author, is no small triumph. " He that 
ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." 

Several trying lawsuits diversified the eventful 
life of Gutenberg. They were grievous and har- 
rowing to his sensitive feelings, but subserve a good 
purpose to posterity, giving many well-authenti- 
cated facts respecting him, which otherwise would 
have been lost. Little did he think, while passing 
through these fiery ordeals, that he was by them 
reallv inscribing the deeds of his life on the scroll 



204 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

of fame. We moderns, seizing upon each item in 
the law records as a choice morsel of literary his- 
tory, are prone to forget that they were made at 
the sacrifice of the peace and comfort of the in- 
ventor. 

Especially was the writ of the notary public, 
summoning Gutenberg to the parlor of the Barefoot 
Friars, a crushing event. It came when he was 
just on the point of realizing his fondest hopes, — 
when the Bible was printed, and almost ready to be 
issued from the press. By this process of law, he 
was under the necessity of mortgaging his printing 
materials to Faust ; this shows that his large private 
fortune had been previously expended in experi- 
ments, and that thus he had fallen into the clutches 
of his more wealthy partner. 

Because the great invention failed to bring in 
money as soon as the firm had hoped, Faust must 
needs take the law on Gutenberg, seizing his print- 
ing materials, wrought out with so much thought 
and toil. The presses, the plan of which had been 
for years ripening in his brain, and to secure the 
making of which cost him so much money, were no 
longer his; neither was the type which he invented 
at such an expense of time, effort, and money, nor 
yet the illuminated letters designed under his eye. 
Yes, the very initial letters used by Gutenberg and 
his firm, in works executed between 1450 and 



GUTENBERG'S MAGNANIMITY. 205 

1455, were also used by Faust and Schoeffer in the 
Psalter of 1457 and 1459. After so much effort 
almost in vain, what wonder if Gutenberg had be- 
come disheartened, and yielded to despair ! Far 
from that. His indefatigable spirit knew no rest ; 
many floods could not queneh the fire of his per- 
severance ; he started again, laid the foundations, 
and successfully wrought in new printing rooms, 
his Bible and his Psalter meanwhile being printed 
by other hands. 

But there were certain considerations which al- 
leviated the poignancy of Gutenberg's disappoint- 
ment. He had the consolation of knowing that he 
had designed the enterprise of publishing the Bible, 
and that he had carried it successfully to its termi- 
nation. And now, with the mao;nanimitv of a great 
soul, he was willing that others should circulate it. 
Besides, he had at times a hope that he should yet 
have justice done him. It was as true then as now 
that a man may be disappointed in his greatest 
hopes in life, without, on that account, becoming 
unhappy ; for, as one has said, " There is no other 
actual misfortune except this only, not to have God 
for our friend '." 

And this art of printing, which had been such a 
trial and triumph, such a grief and a joy, was des- 
tined to embalm his name and the memory of his 
life infinitely more than if all the conquests of 
world-renowned warriors were his. 




XIX. 

Faust and Schoeffer's Success. — More Books issued. — An Event- 
ful Year. — Greek Type. — Struck by the Plague. — The Paris- 
ians, and Faust's Descendants. — Schoeffer's Death. — Testi- 
mony to Gutenberg. — Extension of the Art. — Piety and Chess. 
— Education in the Olden Time. — Unveiling the Statue. 



npO return to Faust and Schoeffer. After the 
■*- lawsuit, as we have seen, they mostly ignored 
the existence and services of Gutenberg. Soon 
after the memorable separation, Faust went to 
Paris as before related, the sales of Bibles in Ger- 
many alone being so limited as to bring in but small 
returns for the money invested. It was evidently 
necessary to take extraordinary measures to meet 
the emergency. In Faust's cool, business-like view, 
everything would be lost, unless some speedy and 
marked success was attained. His experiments 
resulted better even than he had anticipated ; and 
returning Hush with money, the printing rooms 
soon presented a scene of unwonted activity. The 
" Litterariae Indulgentiae," with which Schoeffer and 



FAUST AND SCHOEFFERS SUCCESS. 207 

his journeymen had busied themselves during 
Faust's absence, was urged through the press and 
into the market. 

" What a difference a little money makes ! " said 
Faust, as he saw how well the book was selling. 
" We must hasten to finish the Psalter." 

This was ready for purchasers by August 1457. 
It was in the highest style of the printing art of 
the age, and could not be excelled. As Faust and 
Schoeffer gazed on its beautiful pages, how could 
they forget the inventor who designed the publish- 
ing of the work, and labored with them in execut- 
ing it full thirty long painstaking months ! Yet 
they uttered few words of acknowledgment. For 
two years they were occupied in striking off, bind- 
ing, embellishing, and selling the Psalter, with the 
additional labor of casting a new fount of type. 
While Schoeffer and his assistants were engaged in 
this absorbing toil, Faust again visited Paris to dis- 
pose of the Psalter. By this means he replenished, 
once more, the treasury of the firm, and returning 
about the time the new fount was finished, they 
printed the " Durandi." 

The next year, 1460, the " Constitutiones " ap- 
peared, and in 1462 a new edition of the Latin 
Bible. This last was the eventful year in which 
the city of Mentz was taken, sacked, and plundered 
by the Elector Adolphus of Nassau. Such w^as 



208 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

the confusion and distraction occasioned by this 
unlooked-for event, that almost all business was 
suspended. The journeyman printers, being sud- 
denly thrown out of employment, fled panic-stricken 
to other countries ; and considering themselves 
freed from their oath, the great secret of thirty 
years was spread abroad. 

Faust and Schoeffer, left almost alone in their 
printing rooms, effected little for some time. At 
length Schoeffer's busy brain hit upon something 
new in printing ; and with his usual patience and 
assiduity he fell to casting a fount of Greek type, 
and in 1465, some little time after Gutenberg had 
retired from his art, issued " Cicero de Officiis," 
using the new Greek type. On occasion of printing 
anything of special importance, Faust continued to 
visit Paris, then the chief seat of learning ; and so 
great a work as this of Cicero in Greek would of 
course be welcomed with avidity by the professors 
and students in the University. As soon as possi- 
ble, therefore, he hastened to that city, furnished 
with a good supply of the much-coveted volume. 
This was early in 1466. He was received with 
enthusiasm ; for such had been the reputation of the 
previous works circulated by him in the French 
metropolis, that he had a large circle of admiring 
patrons and friends. But alas for the uncertainty 
of earthly things ! while yet in the midst of success 



STRUCK BY THE PLAGUE. 209 

and gratulation, he was seized with the plague, and 
died after an illness of a few hours ! The Parisians 
were loud in their expressions of grief, and a large 
concourse gathered at his funeral. The learned 
men and nobility of the city assembled ; distin- 
guished honors were paid him ; and the sequel was, 
that in commemoration of the signal services he 
had rendered them, they continued a generous 
pecuniary reward to his descendants. 

The dreadful shock occasioned by the death of 
his father-in-law, deeply affected Schoeffer. May 
we not suppose that in his loneliness and affliction, 
he sought a reconciliation with his old master, Gu- 
tenberg ? There is, indeed, evidence that this was 
the case ; and we are permitted to infer that the 
breach was healed, suitable acknowledgments be- 
ing made by Schoeffer, as he plainly saw that the 
mortgage act which made Faust master of Guten- 
berg's property, did not include his genius. In 
later years he frankly confessed as much to Trithe- 
mius, Abbot of Spanheim Monastery, a celebrated 
scholar and author. Says this writer, after men- 
tioning that he had his information from the mouth 
of Peter Schoeffer, the inventor of cast metal 
types : — 

"About this time that wonderful and almost 
incredible art of printing and characterizing books. 
14 



210 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

was thought of and invented by John Gutenberg, a 
citizen of Mentz." 

Then follows some of the main particulars of the 
invention on which we have already dwelt. He 
also mentions that " Gutenberg spent all his sub- 
stance in quest of the art, and met with such in- 
superable difficulties, that, in despair, he had nearly 
given up all hopes of success, till he was assisted by 
the liberality of Faust, and by his brother's skill in 
the city of Mentz." 

Schoeffer, having associated with him Conrad 
HenlifF, nobly presided over the interests of the 
great art after Gutenberg's death, diligently issuing 
elegant editions of various books. His last work 
was a new impression of his master's superb Bible 
in 1502, in which year he died, after laboring 
thirty-five or thirty-six years as a printer. His 
monogram is connected with Faust's ; and, as we 
have mentioned, some suppose this also to have 
been the device of Gutenberg. 

The name of Schoeffer means shepherd ; and well 
did the thoughtful care, caution, and ingenuity of 
this man aid in watching over the young art, that 
needed such vigilant cherishing to bring it to ma- 
turity. II" was once Gutenberg's right-hand man, 
next to him in genius in devising, and, despite his 
doubtful course afterwards in leaving him, was an 
honor and a blessing to his country. His son John 



THE ART NO LONGER SECRET. 211 

succeeded him in his office, and later still his grand- 
son John chose the same employment. 

Of Costar, little can be said. Some even suppose 
that no such person ever existed ; while others 
incline to confer on him honors which he never 
earned. It is certain that he did not reach the 
idea of movable types. He died in 1440, when 
Gutenberg had been familiar with their use for 
years. 

The capture of Mentz, in 1462, was the means 
of carrying the knowledge of the art of printing 
to Hamburg, Cologne, Strasbourg, Augsburg, and 
other cities ; and in a short time books were issued 
from many places. Twenty-four different works 
appeared between 1460 and 1470; in the latter 
year two of Faust's workmen commenced printing 
in Paris. Also, in 1470, the art was practiced in 
Venice. Cennini, a goldsmith, established printing 
at Florence ; and so industrious were the Italians 
that they printed between 1470 and 1480 twelve 
hundred and ninety-seven books, two hundred and 
thirty-four of which were editions of ancient au- 
thors. Presses were also established in the Low 
Countries, at Utrecht, Louraine, Basle, and at Buda 
in Hungary ; and, indeed, in the course of a few 
years, every town of any importance possessed its 
printing-office, so that books were greatly multiplied. 
Several women of France early distinguished 



212 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

themselves in prosecuting the art of printing. 
Prominent among them was Charlotte Guillard, 
1490-1540, the widow of Berthold Rambolt, who 
for fifty years kept several presses at work, and 
printed a great number of large and very correct 
editions, both in Latin and Greek. Her best im- 
pressions were issued after she became a widow 
the second time, — the Bible, the Fathers, and the 
works of St. Gregory in two volumes, which were 
so accurate as to contain only three faults. In 
brief, her fame as a printer was so extensively 
known that the learned Lewis Lippeman, Bishop 
of Verona, selected her to print his "Catena in 
Genesim." With the accomplishment of this, he 
was so well satisfied, that, after assisting at the 
Council of Trent, he went on purpose to Paris to 
return thanks to her, and also gave her his second 
volume to print, the " Catena in Exodunv' which 
she performed with like precision and elegance. 

El field was more especially noted for its produc- 
tions in printing, since Henry and Nicholas Beck- 
termange, successors of Gutenberg, there wrought 
at his presses and other printing apparatus, which 
wen 4 the latest efforts in the art. Says Dibdin, 
"The workfl of these men are greatly sought after 
by the curious, as they afford much proof by colla- 
tion of the genuineness of the works attributed to 
their great predecessor." 



THE FIRST ENGLISH PRINTER. 213 

The first English printer was William Caxton, 
mercer, or merchant, who became acquainted with 
the art while engaged in mercantile pursuits in 
Germany. Returning to England, he established 
the printing press at Westminster Abbey, in 1480. 
Although somewhat advanced in years when he com- 
menced, yet such w^as his industry and persever- 
ance that he translated and printed, in ten years, no 
less than twenty-five octavo volumes. These were 
mostly useful literary and religious works, but did 
not indicate high culture in England. The last 
work he issued, and on which he was engaged 
when overtaken by death, was " The Art and Craft 
to know well how to Die." 

After the death of Caxton, Wynken de Worde, 
his partner, continued to print in his office, living 
in his house at Westminster, and styling himself 
" Printer to Margaret, etc., the King's Grandame." 
He printed the Acts of Parliament with the Royal 
Arms, also many Latin and English books ; in forty 
years over four hundred volumes. 

It is not known that he printed any Greek works, 
yet he made many improvements in the art of print- 
ing. His first care was to cut a new set of punches ; 
he sunk these into matrices, and cast several sorts 
of printing letters, afterwards used in his books. 
He was the first English printer who introduced the 
Roman letter into England, using it to mark strik- 



2U THE ART OF PRINTING. 

ing thoughts. His type was remarkable for its pre- 
cision, and for a long time was not excelled. 




The art of printing was not long in extending to 
other places in England besides London. It was 
started in Oxford in 1480, also at St. Albans in the 
same year, and many other places, among which 
were York, Canterbury, Worcester, Ipswich, and 
Norwich. The " Common Prayer' 5 was printed in 
Dublin by Humphrey Powell, in quarto, black let- 
ter, in 1551. Before and after that period the au- 
thors of Ireland had their works printed abroad. 

" Euclid's Geometry," the first work in Latin 
printed with diagrams, was issued from the press of 
Randolt, at Venice, 1482. Aldus also printed the 
works of Virgil there, in Italic types, in 1501, the 
first attempt at producing cheap books. 

Blaeu, who assisted Tycho Brahe in making his 
mathematical instruments, effected great improve- 
ments in the printing press. He made nine presses, 
and named them after the nine Muses. His fame 



EDUCATION IN THE OLDEN TIME. 215 

soon reached England, where his excellent printing 
machines were soon after introduced. 

Aldus Manutius, of Venice, during a career of 
twenty-six years in the employment of printing, 
produced editions of nearly all the Greek and Ro- 
man authors then known to exist. He was also the 
author of several works of learning;, — grammars 
and dictionaries of the Greek and Latin languages, 
the last forming a folio volume, the first that had 
ever been prepared. 

For nearly one hundred and fifty years the Es- 
tiennes of France were famous as printers. Robert 
Stephens, a member of this family, w r as the first in- 
ventor of the verses into which the New Testament 
is now divided, and introduced them in his edition 
of it published in 1551. Harry, the eldest son of 
Robert Stephens, was one of the most learned men 
of his time. " Thesaurus," a dictionary of the 
Greek language, was the fruit of twelve years' hard 
application of the elder Stephens, who also suffered 
persecution for being a Protestant, and fled from 
France to reside at Geneva. The early printers 
were well educated; but time and space fail us to 
note the many learned men who practiced the art in 
different countries, who, availing themselves of the 
new sources of information, added to the general 
stock of knowledge as they eagerly grasped the 
shining treasures laid open by the discovery of 
printing. 



216 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

It is well known that the first printers were 
learned ; and, being engaged in printing from an- 
cient and classical manuscripts, were naturally the 
associates of the first literary characters of the age. 
Indeed, in the infancy of printing, and long after- 
wards, the occupation was very honorable, and was 
only engaged in by well-educated persons. It was 
the glory of the learned to be known as correctors 
of the press to literary printers ; physicians, law- 
yers, bishops, and even popes themselves occupied 
this department ; and a distinguished name, as cor- 
rector of the press, being given in a work, it was 
far more highly valued. 





XX. 

Peculiarities of the First Printed Books. — Early Printers. — 
Piety and Chess. — Education in the Olden Time. — A Great 
Enterprise. — Unveiling Gutenberg's Statue. 



/~\N inquiring more closely respecting the pecul- 
^^^ iarities of the first printed books and the modes 
of producing them, we find that they were generally 
large or small folios or quartos ; lesser sizes than 
these not being in use. In some cases they had no 
title, number of pages, or paragraph divisions. The 
character employed was designed to imitate the 
hand-writing of the time, a rude old Gothic or Ger- 
man, from which the old English was formed, now 
known as German text. The words were printed 
so closely together as to make reading difficult even 
by those accustomed to it, while one unpracticed 
got on slowly and with many blunders. 

The orthography used in the first books was of 
almost every variety, defying method. Abbrevia- 
tions were fashionable, and at length became so nu- 
merous and so difficult to be understood that a book 



218 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

or key was published, explaining them. Instead of 
a comma an oblique stroke was employed. Capital 
letters were not used to begin a sentence, or for 
proper names. Blanks were left for the places of 
titles, initial letters, and other ornaments, in order 
to have them supplied by illuminators, whose curi- 
ous art, however, soon gave place to the improve- 
ments of the printers. The ornaments made by 
the old artists to fill the blanks were formed with 
singular taste ; birds, beasts, flowers, and foliage 
often curiously interwoven with the most desirable 
colors, and even with gold and silver. Saints were 
sometimes made to figure in the border of illumi- 
nated letters, whether the subject treated required 
it or not. The artist had no regard to the theme 
of the author in his adornments. These embellish- 
ments were sometimes costly and elaborate ; but a 
cheaper kind could be had. Bibles and Breviaries 
were most elegantly ornamented. 

The name of the printer and his place of resi- 
dence were either omitted, or placed at the end of 
the book with some pious ejaculation or doxology. 
There was no date, or it appeared in some odd place, 
printed in words perhaps, or by numerical letters, 
and sometimes partly one and partly the other, 
thus: - One thousand CCCC. and LXXIIL," but 
in all cases at tin' end of a book. The Roman and 
Italic letters not being invented, the pages were 



EARLY PRINTERS. 219 

uniformly Gothic through the book. Only a few 
copies were issued at once ; two hundred was a 
large impression. 

The early printer was of necessity also a book- 
binder, placing his leaves literally between boards, 
and making some works so heavy as to provoke the 
criticism, " No man can carry them about, much 
less get them into his head." About 1469-70, 
alphabetical tables of the first words of each chap- 
ter were introduced as a guide to the binder^ 

After the great secret of printing was spread 
abroad, the early printers, in their own quaint style, 
took pains to inform the public that the book they 
issued was printed. 

Caxton said of his first book, "It is not written 
with pen and ink as other books be, to the end that 
every man may have them at once ; for all the 
books of this story, thus imprinted as ye here see, 
were begun in one day, and also finished in one 
day ; " that is, the edition. 

The Mentz printers, at the end of each of their 
first works, made it known that instead of being 
drawn or written with a pen, they were made by 
a new art and invention of printing or stamping 
them by characters or types of metal set in forms. 

King Henry VI. was moved by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury to use all possible means for procur- 
ing a printing mould, as it was then called, to be 



220 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

brought into England. It is supposed that Caxton, 
after the custom in other monasteries, set up his 
press near one of the aisles of Westminister Abbey. 
The first book printed there was " The Game of 
Chess," a work then much used by all classes of 
people, and "doubtless desired by the Abbot, and 
the rest of his friends and masters." Caxton trans- 
lated it from the Latin of a Dominican friar, who 
wrote it in the year 1200. It was in the main a good 
book, else Caxton, with his decided religious princi- 
ple, would not have published it ; he recommends it 
as " full of wholesome wisdom, and requisite unto 
every state and degree." But to us it seems a cu- 
rious mingling; of amusement and advice. There 
were instructions for playing the game, side by side 
with counsels which, according to Caxton, would 
enable the people to understand wisdom and virtue. 
The course of study then comprised in what 
was thought a good education, was very limited. 
Teacher and pupil in most cases attempted little, 
and accomplished little. The trivium and the quad- 
rivium were the two branches of what was then 
understood as the liberal arts. The former included 
grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics ; the latter, mu- 
sic, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. It was 
thought that he who became master of these studies 
needed no longer a preceptor or assistance in solv- 
ing any questions within the compass of human 
reason. 



A GREAT ENTERPRISE. 221 

But thorough students in these branches were 
seldom found, until the dissemination of books by 
the art of printing gave a new impetus to the intel- 
lect of that age. 

Interesting it has been to trace step by step the 
passing on of this art to perfection. Long were 
genius and industry engaged in its study, and never 
was there so rich and glorious a harvest from hu- 
man efforts. The nurse and preserver of the arts 
and sciences, of religion and civilization, was not the 
work of one brain solely, neither did the gift bring 
peace at once, but rather strife and opposition. Ig- 
norance fled before it as darkness from light ; the 
priests and copyists were disturbed ; and the way 
was made ready for the bringing in of the Reform- 
ation, commencing in 1517 under Martin Luther. 
For doubtless the invention of this art did more to 
unmask the superstitions of the Papal church than 
all other causes combined. 

Gutenberg's conception and execution of print- 
ing the Bible was a magnificent enterprise ; 
through unparelleled difficulties, he produced an 
eloquent and superb book, which is even now 
the admiration of the learned. We scarcely know 
which most to admire, the great art, or the noble 
purpose to which its incalculable power was lent. 
His praise is in every land, but most of all do his 
countrymen love and revere his memory. Statues 



222 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

of Gutenberg have been erected in several cities 
of Germany, and festival occasions celebrating his 
achievements are frequent. A picture of one of 
these days of grateful rejoicing is the following ac- 
count of a 

CELEBRATION AT MENTZ. 

" The modes in which a large population displays 
its enthusiasm are pretty much the same through- 
out the world. If the sentiment which collects 
men together be very heart-stirring, it will be seen 
in the outward manifestations. Thus processions, 
orations, public dinners, and pageantries, which in 
themselves are vain and empty, are important when 
the persons whom they collect together are moved 
by one common feeling, which sways them for the 
time. 

" We never saw such a popular fervor as prevailed at 
Mentz, at the festival of August 1857. The statue 
was to be uncovered on Monday the 14th; but on 
Sunday evening the name of Gutenberg was rife 
through the streets. In the morning, all Mentz was 
in motion by six o'clock ; and at eight, a procession 
was formed to the Cathedral, which, if it was not 
much more imposing than some of the processions 
of trades in London and other cities, was conducted 
with a quiet precision which evinced that the peo- 
ple felt that they were engaged in a solemn act. 



COMMEMORATIVE FESTIVAL. 223 

The fine old Cathedral was crowded ; the Bishop 
of Mentz performed High Mass; the first Bible 
printed by Gutenberg was displayed. What a 
field for reflection was here opened ! The first 
Bible in connection with the imposing pageantries 
of Roman Catholicism, — the Bible in great part a 
sealed book to the body of the people ; the service 
of God in a tongue unknown to the larger number 
of worshippers ; but that first Bible the germ of 
millions of Bibles that have spread the light of 
Christ throughout the veritable globe ! 

The mass ended, the procession again advanced 
to an adjacent square, where the statue was to be 
opened. Here w^as erected a vast amphitheatre, 
where, seated under their respective banners, were 
deputations from all the great cities of Europe. 
Amidst salvos of artillery the veil was removed 
from the statue, and a hymn sung by a thousand 
voices. Then came orations, then dinners, balls, 
orations, boat-races, processions by torch light. 
For three days the population of Mentz was kept 
in a state of high excitement, the echo of which 
went through Germany, and " Gutenberg ! Guten- 
berg ! " was toasted in many a bumper of Rhenish 
wine amidst this cordial and enthusiastic people. 

And, indeed, even in one who could not boast of 
belonging to the land in which printing was in- 
vented, the universal and mighty effects of this art, 



224 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

when rightly considered, would produce almost a 
corresponding enthusiasm. It is difficult to look 
upon the great changes that have been effected dur- 
ing the last four centuries, and which are still in 
progress everywhere around us, and not connect 
them with printing and its inventor. The castles 
on the Rhine, under whose ruins we travelled back 
from Mentz, perished before the powerful combina- 
tions of the people of the towns. The petty feudal 
despots fell when the burghers had acquired wealth 
and knowledge. But the progress of despotism on 
a larger scale could not have been arrested, had the 
art of Gutenberg not been discovered. The strong- 
holds of military power still frown over the same 
majestic river. The Rhine has seen its petty for- 
tresses crumble into decay. Ehrenbreitstein is 
stronger than ever. But even Ehrenbreitstein will 
fall before the powers of the mind. Seeing, then, 
what, under God, intellect has done and is doing, 
we may well venerate the memory of Gutenberg 
of Mentz." 





XXI. 

Modes of making Type. — Varieties of Type. — Cylindrical Ink- 
distributor. — A Modern Printing Establishment. — Composi- 
tion Room. — Cases. — Proof-reading. 

f ET us now glance at the Art of Printing in 
-■-^ modern times. 

In the making of types, formerly each letter was 
cast, and then finished one at a time, by hand. 
Now there is a process of manufacturing the copper 
face by machinery, the operation being effected by 
the pressure of a sharp die upon copper. And it 
is said that a small steam-engine can produce one 
type a second, or thirty-six thousand in ten hours. 

By the more ordinary process, types are made 
by casting type-metal in a mould, though some of 
the larger sizes are manufactured from maple, ma- 
hogany, or box-wood. The process of casting type, 
which is the business of the type-founders, re- 
quires great skill. In the first place, a punch is 
cut, of the letter to be formed, except that it is in 
reverse. The punch being of hardened steel, and 
having this letter on its point, is then struck into a 
small piece of copper, which is called the matrix, or 
form of the letter to be cast. The matrix is now 

15 



226 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

fixed in a curiously contrived instrument, termed 
the mould, attached to a compact hand machine, 
having in the centre a small furnace of burning coal 
to keep the vessel of type-metal over it liquid. The 
workman turns a wheel, thus forcing melted metal 
into the mould, which quickly shapes and drops one 
after another the types, perfect, save polishing. In 
some foundries there are twenty of these machines. 
In this way not only every letter, but every figure, 
hyphen, comma, or other mark, must have its punch 
and matrix, as well as its separate casting. One 
machine will cast one hundred types a minute. 

In the cut, a is the body ; 6, the face, 
or part from which the impression is 
taken ; e, the shoulder, or top of the 
body ; J, the nick, designed to assist the 
compositor in distinguishing the bottom of 
the face from the top ; and e, the groove 
Metai Type, made in the process of finishing. 

As soon as a heap of types is cast, a boy takes 
them away, and breaks off the superfluous piece at 
the end of each, when another rubs its sides on a 
stone, to render it smooth. The face, or printing 
part <>i" the type, is not touched after it leaves the 
matrix, that giving it all the distinctness and sharp 
ness of which it is capable. 

Type-metal is b compound of lead and antimony, 
in the proportion of three to one, with a small 
portion of tin, and sometimes a little copper. 




VARIETIES OF TYPE 227 

In Gutenberg's day types were necessarily an 
imitation of the handwriting of the monk-copyists, 
with little variety and beauty. Now the types 
which compose an ordinary book -fount consist of 
Roman CAPITALS, small capitals, and lower- 
case letters, and Italic capitals and lower-case let- 
ters, with accompanying figures, points and refer- 
ence-marks, — in all about two hundred characters. 
Including the various modern styles of fancy types, 
some three or four hundred varieties of face are 
made. Besides the ordinary Roman and Italic, the 
most important of the varieties are 

©to lEttBltelj or 2Siacfc Hetter* 

Full-face, Antique, tfiu/a. 
Old Style, GOTHIC. 
The smallest body in common use is diamond ; 
then follow, in order of size as below — 

Diamond abcdefghij'klmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Pearl abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Agate abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Nonpariel abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Minion abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Brevier abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Bourgeois abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Long Primer.. . .abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

Small Pica abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

pica abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 

English abcdefghijklmnopqrstuy wxyz 

o rei t Primer abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv 



228 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Until a comparatively recent period, no better 
method of inking the type had been devised than 
Gutenberg's sheep-skin dabbers, or stamping balls. 
Earl Stanhope, who greatly improved the printing- 
press, sought by many experiments to supply the 
ink by means of a revolving cylinder or roller, in- 
stead of by the old process. The first impediment 
was the seam which it was necessary to make down 
the whole length of the roller ; and it could be kept 
neither soft nor pliable. Providentially these diffi- 
culties were overcome by observing a process in 
the Staffordshire potteries, in which the workmen 
use what are there called dabbers. These dabbers, 
composed of glue and treacle, possessed every re- 
quisite to hold and distribute the ink, spreading it 
evenly over the form, besides being easily kept 
clean and pliable. This method was at once seized 
upon by ingenious printers, who used it in time in 
the cylinder form, as is common now in all printing 
offices. 

Formerly, the word the was indicated by the 
letters y and e, thus — y e ; $ was used for and; 
with other ungainly abbreviations. Connected let- 
ters were also employed ; c and t were joined by a 
curve from the top of one to the other; and when 
two b'$ occurred a long f was used. 

Instead of ponderous folios and quartos, untitled, 
unpaged, and unparagraphed \ without capitals, and 







c 
o 



o 

5 



A MODERN PRINTING HOUSE. 229 

with words so huddled together as to put the reader 
to his wit's end to make out the meaning, now we 
have the beautiful pocket and library editions, con- 
venient in size, clear and intelligible within, — 
"books that you may carry to the fire and hold 
readily in your hand," as Dr. Johnson says. 

We have, in imagination, visited Gutenberg's 
Printing Rooms, and can vividly recall his rude be- 
ginnings and slow and toilsome methods ; his print- 
ing-press ; the wonder of that age, — only turning 
off a few hundred impressions per diem. With this 
in mind, let us step into a representative printing 
establishment of our times, — the " Riverside," at 
Cambridge, Mass. ; for we wish to get a just idea 
of the Art of arts. We will first visit the Composi- 
tion Room. 

Ranged down the sides of the room we see scores 
of laborers industriously at work, each one before a 
stand or frame, in shape similar to the music- 
stand at an orchestra. Each frame is constructed 
so as to hold two pairs of cases, one containing 
the Roman, the other the Italic letters of the same 
" fount," or kind. The upper case has ninety- 
eight little divisions for the different kinds of type ; 
the lower case has fifty-four boxes, arranged as in 
the diagram on the opposite page. The "composi- 
tor " or " type-setter," is said to " work at case ; " 
for all the types are sorted in " cases," or shallow, 



230 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

open and divided boxes ; the lower case, or the one 
nearest him, having all the small letters, points, and 
spaces to place between the words, and the upper 
case containing all capitals, accented letters, figures, 
and characters used as references to notes. Each 
letter has a larger or smaller box appropriated to 
it, according as it is seldom or frequently required, 
while the letters most needed occupy the position 
most convenient for the compositor. 

In the English language, the letter e inhabits 
the largest box ; a, c, 6?, /i, t, ??z, n, 0, r, s, £, ?/, live 
in the next-sized apartments; J,/, g, I, p, v, u\ y, 
dwell in what may be called the bed-rooms ; while 
y, /c, g, #, 2, 6#, and ce, double letters, etc., are more 
humbly lodged in cupboards, garrets, and cellars, 
as Ave call the various compartments of the case. 
The reason of this arrangement is, that the letter e 
being visited by the compositor sixty times as often 
as 2, — his hand spending an hour in the former 
box for every minute in the latter, — it is advisable 
that the letters oftenest required should be in the 
nearest and largest boxes; everything being sys- 
tematized so as to secure accuracy and despatch. 

Behold the busy company. Eyes, fingers, and 
anus move almost in every direction with steadi- 
ness and speed. Some are " distributing ; " that 
is, filling their cases with letters from the type 
pages of books or papers which have been printed 



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COMPOSING. 231 

off. This is done with great celerity ; the compos- 
itor grasps and reads several sentences at once ; 
and without again looking at the letters, his nimbly 
flying fingers deposit them, one by one, here, there, 
everywhere, in the square dens to which they be- 
long. Four thousand " ems " per hour can thus be 
distributed by a good compositor, which is about 
five times as many as he can " compose," or set 
in type ; as it is much easier to spend money than 
to earn it. 

Having filled the cases, the workman is ready to 
" compose." Standing in front of the cases which 
contain the Roman letters, and having placed the 
"copy," or manuscript from which he is to set, 
upon the least used part of the upper case, he takes 
in his left hand the " composing-stick," made of 
brass or iron, with a movable side which can be 
adapted to any width of line by means of a 
screw. He then commences putting the letters of 
each word of the copy, with the necessary points 
and spaces, into the stick, the thumb of his left 
hand meanwhile securing each addition, from left 
to right along the line. To facilitate the process, a 
thin slip of brass, called the " composing-rule," is 
placed in the composing-stick at the outset, and 
pulled out and put on the front of a line when com- 
pleted. When the stick is full of lines, the com- 
positor, with the fingers of both hands, lifts them out 



232 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

as if they were a mass of solid metal, and places 
them in the " galley," — a flat board or piece of 
zinc or brass, having a ledge at the head, and on 
one or both sides. To do this last successfully re- 
quires practice and skill. And the young printer, 
although no adept in pastry-making, learns, to his 
disgust, that there is nothing easier than to make 
"pi," as the heap of jumbled type, which has 
slipped through his untrained fingers, is termed. 

The galley having been filled by the contents 
of successive sticks, and the requisite number of 
pages to form a sheet being completed, they are ar- 
ranged upon a bench or " imposing stone," and 
surrounded with pieces of wood, or "furniture," so 
as to give a suitable margin for each page. The 
whole being then secured in the " chase," or iron 
frame, by means of strips of wood and wedges. 
This is called " imposing." 

Next, a "proof" is taken by impressing paper 
upon the type, that the compositor may see and cor- 
rect the mistakes he may have made in putting the 
copy into type. 

Referring again to the engraving, "Composition 
room," in the open space arc the " imposing 
stones," or "tables," on which matter in type is 
placed in order to arrange it for printing ; proofs 
are taken, errors corrected, and the " form " finally 
made ready for the press. 



A PROOF-READER. 



233 



But in this cozy, well-lighted room, sits one 
whose attitude is the picture of careworn and ear- 
nest attention. No matter what the din in the 
building around him, his faculties are concentrated 
on the pages of proof. It is one of the proof- 




Reading Proof. 

readers, — and an assistant who reads the copy, 
whose office it is to see that the work goes forth 
to the public correct in literary and mechanical 
execution. His is a wearisome and responsible 
task. His eye, with lynx-like vigilance and mi- 



234 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



croscopic power, must detect the minutest defects 
of press or author. Faults in punctuation, gram- 
mar, rhetoric, logic, and data he must point out. 
All this at a glance, in an establishment crowded 
with work. 





XXII. 

Type-setting by Machinery. — Its Practicability. — Various Ma- 
chines devised. — The Brown Type-setter and Distributer de- 
scribed. — Simplicity. — Keliability. — Speed. 

TN the last chapter we described type-setting by 
hand. Let us now for a few moments look at 
the method of doing this by machinery. This is 
the last achievement of that inventive enterprise 
which we have seen to be so efficient in all the his- 
torv of the art ; and it deserves some mention here, 
both for what it already is, and for what it so con- 
fidently promises. On witnessing this most inter- 
esting and curious operation, one wonders, first, that 
such a work, apparently requiring the constant ex- 
ercise of mind and intelligence, can be so rapidly 
and perfectly done by machinery ; and then, ob- 
serving the simplicity of the instruments and the 
certainty of their work, one wonders again that it 
has never been done before. 

It is our aim in this history to illustrate the 
prominence machinery has held in the several de- 



236 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

partments of the art, and how much our literature 
and books owe to its aid ; and it is remarkable that 
this work of setting and distributing types is the 
only branch of the printer's art which has not yet 
received its share of aid from labor-saving expedi- 
ents. When we consider the great improvement 
which has been made in presses within the past few 
years, whereby the number of impressions is multi- 
plied from 250 to nearly 30,000 per hour, and 
when, on the other hand, we consider that in the 
department of type-setting these four hundred 
years have brought no advance or improvement, 
but that this work is done in precisely the same 
slow manner in which the inventor of movable 
types first ranged them into line in the fifteenth 
century, it is strongly suggested that the contribu- 
tions of genius have not been altogether impartial 
and just, and that here remains a great field of in- 
ventive enterprise as yet uncultivated. And when 
it is further considered that in the estimate of our 
most extensive publishers lull half the present cost 
of our books and periodicals is in the labor of set- 
ting the types, the question urges itself. How has it 
happened that this important branch of human in- 
dustry lias been so overlooked by inventive genius'/ 
Is there any inherent difficulty which makes it im- 
possible to do the work of type-setting by mechan- 
ical appliances? The wonderful adaptation of ma- 



VARIOUS MACHINES DEVISED. 237 

chinery to all other forms of human labor and ser- 
vice suggests antecedently that it must be possible 
also here. Led by this faith in the possibility of 
the thing, and urged by the actual necessity of do- 
ing something to expedite this branch of the work, 
many inventors have of late years been studying 
upon this problem. But the mechanical type-setter 
is essentially a modern invention : it is the contri- 
bution of this age to the art. About twenty years 
cover the whole period of these efforts. It seems 
to be a law of human progress that a number of 
failures must precede the successful effort, every 
failure contributing its quota to the ultimate suc- 
cess, either through its suggestions of a better way, 
or by serving as a warning and indication hew not 
to do it. 

Several type-setting machines have been devised, 
some of them very ingenious ; but one after an- 
other failed to stand the test of actual work. It is 
not, however, half so strange that many should fail 
as that any should succeed in so great and delicate 
a Avork. So vast and difficult is the problem, that 
many of the best mechanicians of our day, whose 
knowledge of the capabilities of machinery gives 
their judgment peculiar weight, have pronounced 
it an impossibility, and have classed these efforts 
with the fascinating but visionary chase after a 
method of perpetual motion. But inventors are a 



238 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

peculiar race, as is seen in the case of Gutenberg, 
especially endowed with an indomitable faith in the 
possible ; and they are continually attempting and 
doing things with little other apparent motive than 
the fact that the world has supposed them impossible. 

The inventor of the machines we have exam- 
ined, Mr. O. L. Brown, of Boston, has made a 
careful study of the subject for years, and seems 
finally to have found the secret, both of simplicity 
and success. Especially is the device for setting 
the types so simple that it might perhaps more 
properly be called an instrument than a machine. 
The Type-distributer strikes one as more curious 
and wonderful, inasmuch as it is entirely automatic, 
and is operated by steam ; but it is an adaptation 
of one of the most common and familiar mechanical 
principles. 

The Type-setter comprises a case, a stick, and 
a justifier. The case consists of a series of 
grooves or channels ranged side by side, each just 
wide enough to receive 4 a line of type. There is no 
limit to this case, either in the number of channels, 
or their length. In these channels, the types stand 
upon their feet, and the case is set at such an an- 
gle that they slide downward by their own gravity, 
and rot upon the bar which closes the lower ends. 
Across the loot a shield is placet!, provided with 
openings for the types to pass through as they are 



MECHANICAL TYPE-SETTER. 239 

set ; and an index, showing the letters and sorts 
which the ease contains. Corresponding openings 
in the rear allow the tongue, which forces out the 
letter, to enter. 

Below and in front of the case, sliding back and 
forth upon a track at the will of the operator, is the 
stick, or mechanical hand, which takes the letters 
from the case. The stick consists of a semicircu- 
lar groove for receiving the type, and a lever or 
key for operating it. The uppermost end of the 
stick forms an indicator, pointing to the index upon 
the shield. The key is provided at one end with a 
tongue, or plunger, for lifting the type, and the 
other forms a handle for working it. The whole 
weighing but a few ounces, it is moved with the 
greatest ease from letter to letter. The operator, 
seizing the handle with the thumb and finger, runs 
it nearly opposite the letter to be taken. It is so 
arranged with an adjusting gauge that no greater 
accuracy of stroke is required than in playing a 
piano. As the handle of the key is depressed, a 
type is thrust out into the stick. As the handle is 
raised again, a " follower" pushes the type just 
lifted sufficiently down the channel to allow the 
next one to be taken in the same way. This op- 
eration is repeated till the stick is full, when it is 
run to one end of the track, and the line slipped 
into the justifier. The stick is then ready for an- 



240 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

other line ; and, when several are set, they are 
justified by hand. 

In all machines that have heretofore been pro- 
duced, use has been made of a set of keys to take 
the letters from the case ; and at first thought these 
would seem to have an advantage over this with its 
single key. But experience has proved it other- 
wise ; for the object is not merely to take the let- 
ters from the case, but also to form them into line ; 
and this last has hitherto proved the most difficult 
and expensive part of the work. A case capable 
of holding one hundred and fifty lines of type the 
size of this in which this book is printed is about 
thirty inches in length ; and when one letter is 
taken from one end of the case and the next from 
the other end, the difficult thing is to bring them 
together into line quickly, surely, and with perfect 
safety. It will readily be seen that in this passage 
there is likely to be loss of time, and the 4 types are 
liable to misplacement, and, in the case of the more 
delicate, to breakage. That nothing is gained by 
multiplying the keys, will at once be Been when it 
is considered that the keys, however many there 
may be, must he struck singly, and time allowed 
for disposing of each letter as it is indicated. The 

operation of type-setting is not like that of playing 
the piano, where several keys are struck simulta- 
neously; hut. mi the contrary, care must be taken 



MECHANICAL TYPE-SETTER. 241 

not to touch more than one at a time. In short, 
that nothing is gained, but much is lost, by this 
multiplicity of the keys, becomes apparent when 
we consider the complication which it involves. 
The machine we have seen in operation contains 
one hundred and fifty letters, and uses but one key ; 
and this key is of the simplest construction. The 
motion of the key which lifts the letter puts it also 
in its place in the line. If stationary keys were em- 
ployed, a key would be required for each letter, 
which would increase the first cost a hundred and 
fifty times, and the liability to get out of order in 
the same ratio, besides making a machine more dif- 
ficult to learn, and without increasing the speed. 
But the advantages of the single key are found to 
be many besides its simplicity and cheapness. It 
allows the use of any number of different charac- 
ters, it is not liable to get out of order, its parts are 
all in plain sight, and it is limited in speed only by 
the skill of the operator. One of its greatest ad- 
vantages is that the line of type being set is always 
before the eye of the compositor. He is constantly 
observing the process of its formation ; and there is 
therefore no occasion for the " outs " and " doub- 
lets" that are so frequently made in the machines 
that carry the line away from the operator's sight. 

This Type-setter was brought to perfection sev- 
eral vears ago ; but the necessitv of a distributino; 

16 



242 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

machine was soon realized. In the setting of types 
by machinery, it is needful that they be ranged in 
lines, instead of being laid in boxes, as for hand- 
composition. To do this by the slow process of 
hand-distribution would more than counterbalance 
the time gained by the setter. It was first at- 
tempted to employ cheap labor for the work ; but 
this was not satisfactory, and was soon abandoned. 
For the full utility of the setter, therefore, some 
method of distribution is imperative. Conse- 
quently Mr. Brown sought among the distributers 
already projected by other inventors something that 
might be adapted to accompany his setter. But a 
careful examination of everything that had as yet 
been produced found nothing that promised to be 
satisfactory ; and he turned his attention to the 
only remaining expedient, namely, to create a new 
one. After five years of study and labor, he pro- 
duced a distributer which, for simplicity of design 
and reliability of action, is a fit complement and 
companion for the setter. 

The Type-distributer consists of a rotating ring, 
about ton inches in diameter. At regular inter- 
vals in the edge of the ring are recesses for holding; 
the type- while being carried to their places. Ra- 
diating from this ring are the channels into which 
the types are distributed; and which, when full, 
are transferred to the Better, and constitute a part 



TYPE-DISTRIBUTER. 243 

of the case. At one side is a galley, which receives 
the page to be distributed. From the galley, the 
machine takes one line at a time, and lifts it into a 
channel, in which it is fed towards the distributing- 
ring, but a little below. From the inner end of 
this line the types are lifted one at a time, and en- 
ter the distributingr-ring. This ring; has an inter- 
mittent motion, and each motion brings one of the 
recesses directly over the line. One after another 
the types are forced up into these recesses. A re- 
cess is large enough to receive the largest type, and 
is formed by cutting a larger slot in the ring, and 
inserting a set of leA^ers. The levers are simply 
straight pieces of sheet brass or steel about two 
inches long, with a hole near one end, through 
which the pin passes on which they turn. These 
levers, placed one upon the other in sets of six or 
more, form one side of the recess. A slide or 
ejector, which forces out the letter when it arrives 
at its proper place, forms the back of the recess. 
When a letter is fed into the ring, it stands in this 
recess, and any nick that may have been made in 
the edge" of the type will be opposite one of the 
levers. As the short arms of these levers shut 
against the edge of the type, some of them entering 
the nicks, the long arms take a corresponding posi- 
tion. It will be seen that a slight variation in the 
position of the short arms gives a much greater 



2i4 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

variation in the long arms. The relative position of 
these long arms, acting in connection with the keys, 
determines where the type shall be ejected. These 
keys slide out and in, and each motion of the ring 
brings each set of the levers successively in front of 
each key. The keys all advance a short distance, 
and try the ends of the levers ; and, wherever the 
shape of the keys corresponds to the position of the 
levers, the key advances farther, and, acting upon 
the ejector, forces out the letter. The operation 
is on the same principle as the common lever-lock ; 
the levers with the type forming a certain combina- 
tion which will move around until it arrives oppo- 
site its own key. The lock will then be unlocked, 
and the letter forced out. The keys are the slides, 
which are placed in the stationary part of the ma- 
chine, inside the rotating ring, and radiating from 

7 o o 7 o 

the centre. 

The type are placed in the machine just as they 
come from the press, the galley being adjustable to 
any size of page ; and any letters that the machine 
cannot distribute are simply transferred to the 
k * pi-lino/* where they stand in regular order, and 
can be distributed by another machine or by hand. 
The type used is the common typo cast at our 
foundries, as described on page 225. For the set- 
ting-machine no change is made, but for the dis- 
tribnter, this being automatic, it is prepared by a 



QUESTION OF SPEED. 245 

simple system of nicks in the back of the letter. 
These nicks are added very quickly and cheaply ; 
but this necessity will soon be obviated, as the 
foundries are already making matrices or moulds 
for casting founts of type containing the distribut- 
ing-nick. 

The question which will doubtless decide the 
fate of this and all other machines for the purpose 
is the question of speed. 

The machines we have described, notwithstand- 
ing their newness and the necessary inexperience 
of the operators, make an economy of more than 
fifty per cent, in the time of doing a given amount 
of work. The distributer, being run by steam and 
tended by a boy, does the work of several men. 
This is a great gain ; twenty-five per cent, has 
been thought an amount very desirable to be 
reached. It seems, too, that skill in operating the 
setter is easily acquired. 

As an illustration of this, may be given the case 
of a young girl who had never seen the inside of a 
printing office, and who was induced to try the new 
machine. She was initiated into the ready use 
of the type-setter in five minutes' instruction. 
Seizing the mechanical hand, which takes the let- 
ters one by one as rapidly as thought can spell 
from the groove-like case, in the first hour, with 
the rapid click, click, of the new-found " key," she 



246 THE ART OF PRINTIXG. 

set very correctly six hundred ems, and in the sec- 
ond hour accomplished the task of a thousand ems. 

An office boy was as successful. After a few 
hours' acquaintance with the machine, it is common 
for mere children, in dispatch and correctness of 
execution, to rival workmen who have had long 
experience in type-setting by hand. 

The setter has been operated in competition 
with two superior compositors of many years' prac- 
tice, and has done more work than both, on fair 
and equal terms. Such being the results in the 
present condition of the machinery, it is only just 
to conclude that this is an invention which not only 
does honor to the art, and is an important step 
in its progress, but must contribute materially to 
the cheapening of books and the dissemination of 
literature, and so serve the highest interests of 
human life. 




31 BRE0TYP1 KM NDB1 




XXIII. 

Stereotyping. — Plaster Moulds. — Planing and Beveling. — 
Correcting Stereotype Plates. — Process of Electrotyping. — 
The " Guillotine/' — Ornamenting. 

HP HE invention of stereotyping is also a great 
improvement in printing. Almost all works, 
after being put in type, are stereotyped ; the advan- 
tage is that a new edition can be struck off as often 
as called for, without the labor of resetting the type. 

The process of stereotyping differs from common 
printing, in that the letters, after being set up, are 
cast in plates of entire pages, from plaster of Paris 
moulds. 

The workman in the picture is about removing 
the moulds from the type beneath. The mould, 
forming a perfect fac simile of the page intended 
to be printed, is placed with others in a great oven, 
where it is dried and baked hard. The edge of 
the oven can be seen at the right of the picture on 
the following page, which represents the interior of 
the Stereotype Foundery. 

While the plaster mould is baking in the oven, 



248 



THE ART OF PRIXTIXG. 



the foundery man is getting things in readiness for 
converting it into lead. Upon the left, in the pic- 
ture, is a high pile of bars of lead, looking •like an 
irregular chimney. When the bars of lead are put 
into the cauldron to melt, a certain amount of anti- 




Moulding in Plaster. 

nioiiv is put in also, to render it brittle, and tin is 
added to give a brightness of surface. When the 
lend, antimony, and tin are well melted, and the 
scum has been removed, the composition is 

poured into iron moulds, where it hardens, and 



PLASTER MOULDS. 240 

comes out in the shape of the lead that was 
put into the kettle in the first place. These bars 
of composition, lead being by far the largest mate- 
rial, are put into the boiler over which you see the 
man working, and melted again- making a molten 
mass, which is kept liquid by the hot fire beneath 
and the frequent stirring. When the plaster pages, 
or moulds, are well baked in the oven, they are 
ready to be plunged in their lead bath. An iron 
pan about two feet long, a foot broad, and two or 
three inches deep, is the vessel, in which is laid a 
false bottom of iron, called a floater ; on this are 
laid the plaster moulds, face down, and the whole 
is covered with an iron slab, which does not, how- 
ever, rest on the plaster moulds, but upon the edge 
of the iron pan. An iron handle, like that of a 
basket, is secured to the middle of the pan upon 
the wooden stand in front of the picture. A crane 
overhangs the boiler, and from it drops a hook sur- 
rounded by four legs ; the hook takes hold of the 
hole in the handle, and the four legs press upon the 
iron cover of the pan ; the crane swings round, 
holds the iron pan with its plaster moulds snugly 
shut up in it, and suspends the body over molten 
lead, lowering it until it is partly sunken in the lead 
but not wholly plunged in it. 

The four corners of the pan are not square ; and 
as the iron cover does not fit into the grooves, there 



250 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

is access to the interior of the pan by this means. 
Down them, then, the founder pours the lead, dip- 
ping it from the boiler, until it fills up completely 
all the little type openings in the plaster moulds. 
Then the crane lifts it and swings it oyer to the 
trough by which the boy is standing. It is lowered 
into the water to cool, after which a crane swings 
it over to the wooden standard, where one is wait- 
ing to be opened. The handle is removed, and 
then the founder, taking a heavy hammer, knocks 
off the lead at the corners and edges, where it lias 
sealed up the iron lid on the pan. The cover is 
removed, and the contents of the pan taken out. 
The plaster is chipped off and thrown away ; but 
now are seen lead plates of the size of the plaster 
moulds, having their surface raised in letters, just as 
that of the moulds was sunken in letters. The 
plates are about double the thickness of the slates 
used in schools. 

These plates are cooled, and washed free of plaster 
in the trough, — the boy in the picture is now doing 
this, — when they arc ready to go into the finishing 
room, to be trimmed, planed, picked out, corrected, 
and generally made ready Wn- use in the printing- 
office. 

In the first place, the plate is trimmed at the 
edges, and planed in a planing-machine, which 
shaves off, from the back, strips of the rough lead. 



BEVELING PROCESS. 



251 



It is beveled also ; that is, the edges are shaved 
down in the left hand of the three smaller machines 
shown in this picture : the object of the beveling is 
to secure the plate afterward, when it comes to be 




Planing and Beveling. 

put on the press. It is also picked out : a work- 
man goes over the lettered surface with a sharp 
tool, clearing out letters which have accidentally 
become filled up with lead, and correcting all inac- 
curacies of form which he discovers. 

The man at work in this picture is planing the 



252 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



back of the plate again, for the purpose of getting 
the requisite thickness. The knife in this plane 
makes one shaving of lead, which rolls up as it 
leaves the plate, like any fine shaving. To take 




Correcting Stereotype Plates. 

off another shaving, a piece of pasteboard is placed 
under the plate, by which it is raised a trifle higher, 
and so again brought under the knife. 

A proof is taken on a common hand-press, and 
with this proof before him the corrector marks such 



CORRECTING PLATES. 253 

letters as were overlooked when the plate was 
picked out. This proof goes into the proof-reader's 
room again, who now goes once more over the page, 
to see if everything is right ; and after he has 
marked it, back it goes to the corrector, who now, 
with the printed proof-sheet before him, makes the 
corrections that are required. If, for instance, a let- 
ter is set up wrong, as pan for pen, and has been 
overlooked by the proof-reader, and the plate is cast, 
what is to be done ? 

The corrector takes a sharp tool, and punches a 
hole through the plate where the interloper is, just 
the size of the type, and then restoring a common 
type e, through the opening, cuts it off even at the 
back of the plate, and solders it in its place with lead. 
In this way a whole line of type is sometimes intro- 
duced for an incorrect line in the plate. The cor- 
rections being made, the plate is ready for the press. 
When not in use, the plates, being very valuable, 
are carefully put in a box, — a large book requiring 
several boxes. They are stored in fire-proof safes, 
made for this purpose. 

While books are generally stereotyped, wood- 
cuts are always electrotyped. Instead of being 
moulded in plaster, the cut or illustrated page goes 
into the electrotype room, to be moulded in wax. 

Let us look at the process. 

A brass case, or very shallow, oblong pan is filled 



254 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



with liquid beeswax, which stands until it has 
hardened. The form containing the pages of type, 
well covered with fine black lead, is placed upon 
the bed of the press, shown in the picture ; the face 




Moulding in AVax. 

of the type is uppermost. There is an upper bed, 
which in the picture is swung half-way back. This 
is swung all the way back, and upon it is secured 
the bra-- case of wax. When the upper bed is 
brought buck again, the wax face will of course be 
downward, and thus will be ready to receive an 



ELECTROTYPING. 255 

impression from the form of type resting on the 
lower bed ; this lower bed is movable, and is gently 
raised by a screw until it presses into the wax, 
after the press is tightened, and now the soft wax 
receives the exact impression of the type ; and the 
upper bed being swung back, the brass case, with 
its wax mould, is removed. We have got just as 
far, in fact, as when the plaster in stereotyping was 
ready to receive the casting. In the battery, a cor- 
ner of which is seen in the picture, are hung one, 
two, three, or more copper plates ; and from rods 
running parallel are hung the cases containing the 
wax moulds, one being hung on either side of the 
brass plate facing it. The positive pole is attached 
to the case, the negative to the copper plate ; and 
the connection being made, a thin film of copper 
appears on the surface of the mould. This coating 
increases the longer the mould remains in the bat- 
tery. After ten or twelve hours it is removed, and 
the result is a shell, as it is called, of the thickness 
of thin pasteboard, the upper surface a perfect fac 
simile of the original page of type or wood-cut, 
every line, and every imperfection too, being repro- 
duced. The under surface is exactly parallel ; for 
each projection on the upper surface there is an in- 
dentation in the lower. 

This thin shell of copper can be bent and crum- 
pled up ; it could not be used for printing in its 



256 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



present state, and it passes through a process called 
" backing up." A thin coating of tin is applied to 
the back, when it is put face downward in a shallow 
dish, and kept in place by a number of small elas- 
tic rods. Then it is huncr over a flat cauldron filled 




The " Guillotine." 

with melted type-metal, and lowered to rest in it. 
When the plate 1ms acquired the same degree of 
temperature as the metal, the latter is ladled and 
poured over the plate, filling up all the hollows and 
indentations, and forming a solid back of load. 



THE GUILLOTINE. 257 

The coating of tin is first applied, as lead will not 
adhere to copper. 

The plate, being now ready for the planing, bev- 
eling, picking, and correcting of stereotype plates, 
goes through the same process that we have before 
described. 

When a book is to be bound, the pile of sheets 
which form it is made even at the back, and a saw, 
working by steam, cuts shallow grooves across the 
back, for. the twine over which the sewing is done. 
Two girls are pictured sewing at their frames, — 
passing the needle through the fold of the sheet 
and round the upright twine, adding one sheet at a 
time to the pile, until the entire book is sewed. 
In the large apartment called the forwarding-room, 
the remaining processes of finishing are done. 
The rough and uncut edges of the book are made 
smooth by means of a cutting machine called the 
" guillotine." 

The ed«*es of a number of books can be cut at a 
time, bv being secured on a movable bed. which 
rises so as to bring them under a stationary knife, 
which cuts them smoothly as they are pressed 
against it. 

There is also a backing-machine, for rounding the 
backs of books. The book is placed in a vise, and 
held near the edge of the back ; and the man, work- 
ing a treadle, moves a heavv roller over the back, 
17 



258 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



thus drawing up the sheets in the centre ; this is 
that the cover may be made fast to the book, the 
sides of the cover fitting tightly ; the limp back is 
like a hinge. The stiff pasteboard covers are made 
by themselves ; for instance, if a thousand copies 




Laving on Gold Leaf. 

at a book are to be made, while the folding and 
sewing of the thousand books is ffoing on in one 
part of the building, in another two or three men 
are at work making cases ; and when each is fin- 
ished, thev are \'\\\ t< aether. 




c 
o 

§ 



ORNAMENTING. 2c9 

But the stamped name on the back or orna- 
mental work is clone on the cases, after they are 
covered with cloth, and before the books are fast- 
ened into them. A brass die, or brand, is made of 
the title of the book ; then the covers which are to 
be stamped are taken by the gilders, who first r ih 




Burnishing Gilt Edges. 



the white of an egg over the surface to be stamped, 
and upon that lay thin gold leaf, of gossamer light- 
ness. 



260 TEE ART OF PRINTING. 

In the picture three girls are laying on the gold 
leaf with their pallet knives. 

The covers are now ready to be stamped by the 
brass die, and that is put in place in the embossing 
press, seen behind the gilders. It is kept con- 
stantly heated, and is attached to the upper part 
of the press with its face down ; the cases are 
slipped singly into the press, and pressed up against 
the die, the letters of which stamp the gold into 
the cloth ; the rest of the gold is carefully rubbed 
off, and collected and preserved. 

When the edges of the leaves are to be gilded, 
it is done by holding the books firmly in a vise, as 
seen in the cut, the <xold leaf beino; laid on with a 
pallet knife ; after which the surface is polished. 

The workman is seen polishing the edges with 
an a^ate burnisher. The sheets having; been 
pasted in their cases, and thoroughly subjected to a 
powerful press, an 1 packed and put into the trade. 

Another very curious process is marbling the 
edges of leaves. 

In the engraving is a long trough, in which is a 
thin mixture of water and gum tragacanth, over 
whirl) the workman holds two dictionaries in his 
hands. The colors which combine in the marbling 
are water-colors, and are distributed in the seven 
jars with brushes. The marbler shakes one of 
these brushes over the vat, the color falling is held 



MARBLING. 



261 



on the surface by the glue, and little circles of blue, 
or whatever was dropped, are scattered over the 
water ; with another brush he sprinkles in the same 
waj, and so on for any number of colors, producing 
effects as gorgeous as the mingling colors of au- 




Marbling. 

tumn leaves or of sunset clouds. If a piece of 
paper now were dipped into the trough, it would, 
when removed, be mottled or marbled. The mar- 
bling is elongated or streaked by slowly passing a 
coarse rake through the water. The marbler, tak- 



202 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



ing two books, dips the edges into the trough ; the 
gum causes the colors to adhere to the paper, and 
the precise pattern in the vat is elegantly painted 
on the book ; the next is dipped in a different place, 
and when the surface has been taken up, the scum 
is skimmed off, and the colors again sprinkled on 
the water, and the process repeated as long as re- 
quired. 





XXIV. 

The Hand-press. — Earl Stanhope's Press. — Improvements. — 
Cylinder Presses. — Press-room — Drying Room. — Sewing 
Room. — Elevator. — Books for the Blind. — Type, Press, 
and Paper invented. — Catalogue of Great Exhibition. — Es- 
timate of Rapid Labor by Machinery. 

TTTE have already referred to the earliest modes 
of taking the impression from the types by 
friction, or the rubbing of some hard smooth sub- 
stance over the paper when laid upon the face of 
the types. 

The hand-press invented by Gutenburg is the 
only machine absolutely necessary for printers. A 
specimen of these rude wooden machines is the 
press used by Benjamin Franklin, now in the Pat- 
ent Office at Washington. A hand-press has been 
illustrated and sketched in this volume ; it was op- 
erated by two men, one attending to the inking, the 
other placing the paper, and pulling on the lever to 
make the impression. The first improvement on 
this press was made by Earl Stanhope in 1815. 
He built the whole of iron, and, substituting for 



264 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

the screw an obtuse-angled jointed lever, greatly 
lessened the labor of the pressman. He also en- 
larged the platen to the size of the bed, so that a 
full sheet could be printed by one pressure of the 
platen, instead of two, as in the old press. A sec- 
ond improvement was soon made by G. Clymer of 
Philadelphia, who in his elegant iron press, the Co- 
lumbian, used a combination of levers ; in some 
points it is still unsurpassed. For country papers of 
limited circulation, the hand-press is still in use ; 
it is also a favorite in book offices for work of delicate 
execution. It is now common to print by hand 
two hundred and fifty impressions per hour, or one 
hundred and twenty-five perfected sheets. 

Near the end of the eighteenth century, the hand- 
press proving too slow for the demands of speed and 
economy, the ready intellect of inventors began 
upon the problem of moving presses by power. 
William Nicholson patented in England, in 1790, 
a plan for a press in which the types were adjusted 
upon a revolving cylinder, and were inked by con- 
tact with another cylinder having rotary motion. 
The ink was distributed by means of several inking 
rollers, the last of which was fed by the ink foun- 
tain. A large cylinder covered with felt, revolving 
in contact with the first, produced the impression, 
which was thus made by rolling the fleets of paper 
between the cylinders. Nicholson Tailed in fixing 



UIPRO VEMENTS. 265 

the types to the cylinder ; but had he been able to 
do this, his plan of inking would not have been 
practicable, as the gelatine rollers were not then 
invented. Frederick Hoenig, a Saxon, so improved 
this press of Nicholson as to make it a mighty en- 
gine. Himself and another machinist, A. F. Bauer, 
found that the way to make a bed of type work 
rapidly was to effect the pressure with a cylinder 
instead of a flat surface. A machine was secretly 
built ; and on the morning of November 28, 1814, 
the " London Times" informed its readers that 
they were reading a sheet printed by steam, in 
these glowing words : — 

" Our journal of this day presents to the public 
the practical result of the greatest improvement 
connected with the practice of printing since the 
discovery of the art itself. The reader of this para- 
graph now holds in his hand one of the many thou- 
sand impressions of the 4 Times ' newspaper which 
were taken off last night by a mechanical appara- 
tus. A system of machinery almost organic has 
been devised and arranged, which, while it relieves 
the human mind and frame of its most laborious 
efforts in printing, far exceeds all human powers in 
rapidity and dispatch. That the magnitude of the 
invention may be justly estimated by its results, we 
shall inform the public, that after the letters are 
placed by the compositor, and inclosed in what is 



266 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

called the form, little remains for man to do save to 
attend upon and watch this unconscious agent in 
its operations. The machine is then merely sup- 
plied with paper ; itself places the form, inks it, ad- 
justs the paper to the form newly inked, stamps 
the sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the 
attendant ; at the same time withdrawing the form 
for a fresh coat of ink, which itself again distributes, 
to meet the ensuing sheet now advancing for im- 
pression ; and the whole of these complicated acts 
is performed with such a velocity and simultaneous- 
ness of movement, that no less than 1,100 sheets 
are impressed in one hour.'' 

The line of success was inaugurated; and ten 
years later, the same paper says, " In consequence 
of successive improvements suggested and planned 
by Mr. Hoenig, the inventor, our machines now 
print 2,000 per hour with more ease than 1,100 in 
their original state." 

By successive improvements made in this ma- 
chine by Messrs. Applegath & Cowper, at length, 
in 1852, it could produce 11,000 impressions per 
hour. 

Isaac Adams, of Boston, succeeded in making 
hand-presses work by power, and issued patents 
of different machines in 1830 and in 1836. The 
capacity of working slow for lino work, or rapidly 
for newspaper printing, characterized these presses, 
and made them favorites with printers. 



TYPE-REVOLVING PRESSES. 267 

It was reserved for an American, Richard M. 
Hoe, of New York, to make the first successful 
type-revolving press. After several costly unsuc- 
cessful attempts, in 1847 he produced a perfect ma- 
chine, on the cylinder of which the types are held 
by friction, between beveled column-rules. This 
is stvled the Lightning Press, and is in use through- 
out the world, where rapid printing is required. 

Recently a new press, the Bullock, is spoken of 
as entering the lists with the Lightning Press. " It 
feeds itself from a roll of paper, cutting it into 
sheets, which are printed on both sides, and de- 
livered in an even pile." Its future success or 
failure must decide its place in history. 

It will be kept in mind that there are four things 
necessary in printing, — the page of type, or the 
stereotype or electrotype plate, to print from ; the 
paper, to receive the impression ; the ink, to ex- 
hibit this impression ; and lastly the printing-press 
to press the paper upon the inked plate. 

In our walk over the printing-house, let us step 
into the Press-room where book- work is done. 

On the left, in the foreground, is a large cylinder 
press used for printing newspapers ; there is an- 
other in the distance, and between can be seen 
parts of a number of hand-presses. On the right 
are great " platen " presses, that are kept in mo- 
tion by steam-power. They are used for the nice 



268 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

execution of book-work, and print only from six 
hundred to one thousand impressions an hour. 

Let us watch the operation of one of these platen 
presses on the right. The paper, having been 
dampened and pressed, is laid on an inclined table 
on the press, from which the " feeder," as the girl 
by the second press in the picture is called, takes 
one sheet at a time, and places it upon an opposite 
inclined table, where it is clutched by the iron fin- 
gers of the press, and carried into the machine. 
If we stood near the press, we should see the bed 
of type adjusted with the face up, and long rollers 
brought quickly back and forth, evenly smearing 
it with ink. The iron fingers before mentioned as 
having grasped the edge of the sheet, lay it on 
the inked bed of type, where it comes under the 
platen, when the bed is raised up against the paper; 
the bed falling again, the force of the machine 
slides out the paper over rollers upon a light frame, 
which throws it over upon a board where the pile 
of sheets collects. This process prints the paper on 
one side only; turning the paper, the sheets are 
put through the press the second time, and the 
printing is completed. 

lint this and oilier departments of the art here 
pursued, give employment to hundreds of operatives 
of both sexes, throwing oil' annually many millions 
of impressions. Here rumbles the thunder of the 




o 

§ 



THE DRYING-ROOM. 269 

modern steam-propelled printing-presses. What a 
clangor is made by the simultaneous revolutions of 
so much complicated machinery ! Broad leather 
straps, rapidly revolving in every direction, cause 
you to start back, fearful lest you be caught in their 
toils. And yet how docile, how easily managed, 
how orderly, how almost human in intelligence, 
— and with what lightning swiftness the monster 
steam-presses throw off their work, so that the 
eye can scarcely follow the successively printed 
sheets ! 

In the adjoining Stock-room, some two days be- 
fore being printed, the paper is " wet down," or 
dampened with water, and then put under powerful 
screw pressure of many tons' weight, that the sheets 
in the process of printing may take a clear impres- 
sion from the inked type. The paper, damp from 
the printing-press, is then taken on trucks and by 
an elevator to the Drying-room, and dried, that it 
may not tear or the printing be defaced. In the 
ceiling are immense frames with cross-bars, and 
hanging on the latter are the printed sheets dry- 
ing. There is also a steam closet to be used dur- 
ing damp weather, and when it is required to dry 
the sheets quickly. Steam-pipes circulate in the 
closet, by means of which a high temperature is 
attained, and u no postponement on account of the 
weather." 



270 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



Workmen are busy bringing in the printed sheets, 
and hanging them to dry, and removing those that 
are dried. The thorough drying of the printed 
sheets is most important. 




Dry-press "Room. 

The three work-people soon in the corner of the 
Dry-press room, are engaged in laying the paper in 
piles, with a piece of stiff, highly polished pasteboard, 
of the size of the sheet, placed between them. The 
pressure upon this pasteboard flat-iron is tobe given 




I 




FOLDING-ROOM. 271 

by the hydraulic press. The sheets are placed in 
piles on trucks, that move upon a little railroad, by 
which they are conducted to the hydraulic presses, 
some of which are seen at the right of the picture, 
packed with sheets. Here they are put under 
powerful screw pressure of from one hundred to 
four hundred tons, and come out not only much 
dryer, but ironed smooth of wrinkles, and the inden- 
tations made by the type. Next, the pasteboard is 
removed, and the piles of sheets sent into the Fold- 
ing-room to be folded. 

It is interesting to mark some of the avenues of 
employment that printing has opened to women. 
The working force in this room is composed almost 
entirely of girls. Standing by the one at the 
right hand in the foreground, let us watch her 
rapid motions ! With her simple paper-folder she 
skillfully folds each sheet once, and smooths the 
fold, then with like expertness folds this doubled 
sheet again, and firmly smooths the thicker fold 
with the ever-in-hand paper-folder ; and once more 
she folds the compact sheet into one having eight 
thicknesses, or sixteen pages. This is book folding, 
and she is guided by the numbers at the corners of 
the pages, or folios — if these numbers meet, the 
folding is sure to be exact. In an adjacent room is 
that ingenious aid of modern printing — a rapid and 
dexterous folding-machine, which, had it been dis- 



272 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



covered at work in Gutenburg's office at Strasbourg, 
would have been proof additional that he dealt in 
witchcraft. 

But to return to our lady folders and their work. 
The sheets, as fast as they are folded, are arranged 



98f 




m 




m 




i 



433 




443 




442 




439 



OF 




ft* 




Iff 




Off 



436 




445 




448 




433 



Diagram of Pages. 



in piles upon the table, the girl who gathers the 
sheets together into separate books following the 
order of the Hffnatures^ or figures on the first page 
of each sheet. 



GATHERING. 



273 



At the left of our picture, near the middle of the 
room, is seen a gatherer, who is engaged in making 
up " Webster's Unabridged Dictionary." She is in 
a narrow isle between two tables, joined at the foot 
bv a short one. On these three tables one half of 




Sewing. 

the Dictionary is spread out at a time, in one hun- 
dred and fifteen piles of sheets. She walks down 
this isle picking a sheet off each pile, and when she 
has gone the entire round she has gathered one half 
of the book. When these piles are all gathered, 
18 



271 THE ART OF PEINTIXG. 

the other half of the book is arranged, and gathered 
in the same way. 

Next, the sheets of the book are put into the 
stabbing-machine, that three holes may be made at 
the inner edo;e, when the sheets are stitched to- 
gether by hand. 

The backs of magazines are covered with a strong 
paste, and the covers are then put on. 

The elevator machinery connecting with each 
story, of a capacity for lifting two tons, worthily 
facilitates the immense work of the establishment, 
as with colossal strength it lifts great burdens of 
paper, type, machinery, and deposits them on just 
the floor where they are needed. 

If the first printers could revisit the earth, 
with what interest would they make the tour of a 
modern printing-office ! How would they call to 
mind their own narrow quarters, poor facilities, 
and creeping progress, contrasting them with the 
convenience, system, swiftness, finish, and grand 
results of to-day, in the now beautifully moulded 
and polished metal types, the success seemingly 
gained in setting type by machinery, and the com- 
prehensive arrangements, of various perfected de- 
partments, all brought under the easy control of 
human skill! How unlike their own embryotic 
efforts " which gave to themselves fame, their art 
an existence, and civilization its motive power I M 



BOOKS FOR THE BLIND. 275 

The first introduction of printing into America 
was in Mexico, by the Jesuits, who issued a 
" Manual for Adults," in 1540. The first printing- 
office in America was established in Cambridge, 
Mass., in 1638 ; the first book printed was the 
"Bay Psalm-Book," in 1640 ; the first newspaper 
was the " Boston News Letter," published April 
24, 1704. 

The first attempt made to print books for the 
blind was made by the Abbe Hauy, at Paris, in 
1785. The letters were so large, however, the 
paper so thick, and the books so bulky and expen- 
sive, that they were of little practical use. No im- 
provement had been made upon this system, so late 
as 1830, when the Paris press was still lumbering 
on in the old method. A few years later a French 
author, a teacher of the Paris school for the blind, 
writes, " The Americans have effected a revolution 
in the art of printing for the blind." 

It was Mr. S. P. Ruggles, the well-known in- 
ventor, who, by his genius and untiring industry, 
wrought this great change. He first turned his 
attention to the education of the blind in 1835 at 
the Perkins Institute, in Boston. For years he 
closely studied their wants and capabilities by 
constant daily observation of the pupils. Books 
were the first thing required ; the few made being 
so cumbersome and costly as scarcely to be available. 



276 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

In the emergency which calls for a hero, one is 
provided ; and it is worthy of record that this man, 
to supply the famishing intellect of the blind, clam- 
bered up step by step the rugged height which 
Gutenburg had scaled, to give light to the seeing 
world. 

After many experiments, he became convinced 
that he could produce a type of less size, and less 
height of face, which the blind could read with the 
greatest facility ; providing the raised impression 
was hard and sharp, and the angles of the type 
adapted to the touch of the fingers. He finally 
succeeded in reducing the size of the type and the 
height of its face so as to place books, of compara- 
tively small dimensions, in the hands of blind 
students and pupils. The size of the type now in 
use, the height, and peculiar bevel of its face, are 
his invention. 

He next devised and built the first press ever 
made for printing for the blind. This was a very 
powerful machine, giving an impression of about. 
three hundred tons to each sheet impressed, yet so 
contrived that the blind could do their own print- 
ing. 

After succeeding in tin 4 making of the new kind 
of type, and in the construction of the ponderous 
press for printing, ho \va^ mot by an unexpected 
difficulty. There was no paper in the market 






BOOKS FOR THE BLIND. 217 

adapted to this kind of printing or embossing. 
That which was hard enough would crack and 
break through when printed ; and that which was 
flexible enough not to crack, would flatten down 
when pressed upon by the fingers of the pupils 
when reading. His reduced type required a new 
kind of paper. The peculiar and definite bevel, 
and height of face of the type, and the texture 
of the paper printed on, were most intimately 
connected, and it took a long series of trials, in the 
manufacture of paper, to get them so harmonized 
as to work well together. But at last, after many 
experiments with gums and gelatine, he produced 
the article required. 

His new method of making books being perfected,* 
Mr. Ruggles next invented an entirely new map 
for the blind. It was made with a raised character, 
similar to his type ; but arranged with such combi- 
nations that, at a trifling cost, he could produce a 
succession of maps of any size. Maps made in this 
way were never before known, and the Perkins 
Institute immediately issued, from this plan, an 
" Atlas" of the United States, and also a " General 
Atlas.'* It would, by most persons, be thought im- 
possible that separate type could be so contrived as 
to admit of their being arranged in such a manner 
as to produce a map of any country and then to use 
the same type to make a map of any other country. 



278 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

Yet all this was perfectly accomplished by this new 
invention — every piece of type matching its neigh- 
bor with miraculous cunning, while following the 
crooked lines and angles, or graceful curves of 
rivers, coasts, and islands, with which such works 
abound. 

He next produced the plates for a book on 
geometry, on a plan similar to his maps. These 
works proved very valuable and interesting to the 
blind — for with them they could pursue their 
studies without the assistance from seeing persons, 
which, before this, was necessary. 

In 1838 this gentleman went to Philadelphia, and 
established one of his powerful presses for printing 
for the blind in the Institution in that city ; and a 
year or two later placed another press in the Insti- 
tution for the Blind in the State of Virginia. The 
perfect success of his method for reducing the size 
and expense of books for the blind, inaugurated a 
new era in the history of this kind of work, and the 
books were rapidly multiplied throughout this coun- 
try and Europe. 

On the opposite page is given a specimen of the 
types referred to, and which are now used lor print- 
ing for the Mind: the l'aee, or white part of these 
letters, being raised in their books about one fortieth 
part of an inch above the surface of the paper. 

Steel-plate and copper-plate printing, together 







o 
£ 



o 



RAPID LABOR. 279 

with the lithographic process, are modern inven- 
tions ; but our limits confine us to glance only at a 
part of the processes used in the preparation of 
books. 

An illustration of the perfection to which the art 
of printing has been brought, was given in the 
printing of the catalogues of the great Exhibition 
of 1851. The Exhibition opened on the first of 
May ; yet with all the speed that could be made, it 
was not till midnight of the 80th that the catalogue, 
a closely printed volume, was ready to go to press. 
By the next morning, however, a bound copy was 
presented to Queen Victoria. Twelve trades were 
necessary for the production of this catalogue. 
And so large an edition was issued that thirty-seven 
tons of new type were employed, of which amount 
twelve tons were manufactured in the short space 
of six weeks ! Twenty-seven thousand reams of 
paper were used, while the ink required for the 
small catalogue alone amounted to 4,000 pounds. 
Specimens of typography were also exhibited from 
the imperial printing-house of Vienna at this Ex- 
hibition. About 500,000 sheets, or 1,000 reams, of 
paper per day are required for the consumption of 
that establishment. 

A French paper makes a calculation to show 
how marvelously human labor is outrivaled by the 
mechanical arrangements of the steam press. The 



280 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

paper, " La Patrie," contains about 4,230 lines : 
8,000 copies make 34,560,000 lines. A clerk could 
write about three lines in a minute ; therefore it 
would require 11,520,000 minutes, or 192,000 
hours, for a single clerk to supply 8,000 copies of 
"La Patrie;'' in other words, it would require 
192,000 men to supply, by copying, the same 
amount of paper which the cylinder printing-press 
supplies in one hour. 

What great armies of compositors are at work in 
the printing-houses of Christendom ! What num- 
berless presses by night and by day throw off mul- 
titudinous papers, pamphlets, and books, which are 
scattered to every home, business mart, and travel- 
ling conveyance in the land. 

At the Great Exhibition one Bible Society alone 
had specimens of the Word of God printed in one 
hundred and twenty different languages. And a 
single religious publishing society of London, as 
early as 1802, had issued five hundred and seventy- 
six millions <>f copies of its publications. But that 
is only one of many societies of similar character, 
and moreover, every enlightened nation abounds in 
book and periodical publishers and booksellers. 





XXV. 

Time of the Great Invention. — A First Gift. — The Use of the 
Alphabet. — A New Era. — Royal Printers. — Knights of Type 
and Pen. — A Mighty Engine. — Gutenberg's Dream. — The 
Press mighty. 



TF the " undevout astronomer is mad," what shall 
-*- be thought of the unbelieving observer of God's 
dealings with the human race ? If evidences of in- 
finite design appear in the material bodies that peo- 
ple space, can we think that God has stamped his 
creating, ordering hand less distinctly on the affairs 
connected with the progress of the souls for whom 
all things exist ? The needle pointing to the pole 
helps on navigation ; it is the servant of the sea- 
men : without it, what would commerce do? But 
how happened it that the principle of the mariner's 
compass was discovered just when in the turmoil 
of events it would be most useful — when it could 
suitably and most effectively introduce the old to 
the new world? How providential, too, the time 
of the invention of the art of printing! Had it 



282 



THE ART OF PRINTING. 



been much earlier, the materials for writing were 
so scarce that it must have come to naught. Had 
it been deferred, doubtless many works which we 
prize as among the most valuable and excellent 
would have been lost. In less than a half-century 
from the invention of the wonderful art, the conti- 
nent of America was discovered by Columbus, in 
1492. In less then a century, Copernicus dis- 
covered the true theory of the planetary motions ; 
and, shortly after, only a few years intervening, 
he was succeeded by the three great heralds of 
Newton, — Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. 

Man is above nature. The senses only, do not 
constitute man ; for the brutes have some senses 
like us, and, not seldom, stronger, more delicate, 
more subtile, quicker to act, more infallible. It is 
thought, then, that gives man the preeminence. 
But what if thought could never be expressed ? 
What if the members of the human race could 
never discover thought to each other, never reveal 
what passed within the mysterious and mighty lab- 
oratory of the mind only as the infant seeks to make 
its wants known, by gestures and moans and "in- 
articulate cries?" But the Creator gave man 
speech ; God's first grand interposition for the soul 
was the gift of speech ! " We believe," says a 
brilliant French writer, " that speech was not born 
of itself on the lips of primitive man," as some 



A FIRST GIFT. 288 

affirm, " like a stammering of chance, attaching, 
from age to age, certain vague significations to cer- 
tain inarticulated' sounds, and giving to others, by 
the sound and connection of these human cries, 
lessons which he who uttered them had not himself 
received. To reach thence from these instinctive 
cries to speech ; from speech to the unanimous 
agreement of the meaning of words — of the sense 
of certain words to the verb and phrase — of the 
verb and phrase to logical syntax — of this syntax 
to the language of Moses, David, Cicero, Confucius, 
Racine, it is necessary to suppose more ages of ex- 
istence to the human race on this earthly globe than 
there are stars, visible and invisible, in the Milky 
Way, It is necessary to suppose numberless ages 
of stupidity during which the human race, essen- 
tially moral and intellectual, should vainly search, 
like the brutes, its instrument of morality and 
knowledge, without power to find it only after 
myriads of generations. Humanity deaf and mute 
during a hundred thousand years ! I shudder at 
the blasphemy of believing such a mystery. I love 
better to believe in the other ; that is to say, in the 
fatherly mystery of the Creator himself, inspiring 
on the lips of his infant creature, speech ; the word, 
the sentence, the inborn expression, which at sight 
gave things names appropriate to their form and 
nature." 



284 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

And when we consider how necessary the use of 
language is to the convenience, comfort, and prog- 
ress of man, and that man had at once conferred 
upon him a body " curiously and wonderfully 
made," and a mind capacious, active, strong, and 
penetrating, can we harbor the idea that after his 
creation, God left him, — a perfect, full-grown being, 
the noblest of his works, and the lord of nature, — 
without speech ? Rather must we not infer, with a 
distinguished writer, that "the same Divine Author 
of the physical organs of speech imparted to man 
the knowledge of their use and power " ? 

But speech carries thought from the mouth to the 
ear by sound, and then perishes like the medium 
which conveyed it there. There needed to be, 
therefore, a process to preserve thought, by reducing 
it to material signs on some enduring; substance. 
So writing was given to the world. And the 
wonderful discovery of alphabetical writing, how 
did it come about ? By chance ? by human inge- 
nuity ? or through the " fatherly mystery of the 
Creator inspiring it " in man ? Says the learned 
Shackford, " That men should immediately fall on 
such a project, to express sounds by letters, and 
expose to Bight all that may be said or thought in 
about twenty characters variously placed, exceeds 
the highest notions we can have of the capacities 
with which we are endowed." How difficult to 



POSSESSION OF THE ALPHABET. 285 

submit our reason to the theories which have been 
argued of a gradual construction of alphabetical 
letters ! Is it reasonable to suppose, for example, 
that the old. Shemitish letter D was suggested by 
the word door, or the letter H by the word fence, 
and the V by a hook or nail? Do we not find 
evidence, that alphabetical writing was divinely 
revealed, in the tables of stone written by the 
finger of God and given to Moses on the Mount ? 
In those ten commandments so anciently bestowed, 
all the Hebrew letters, with one exception, are 
found — every guttural, labial, lingual, and dental is 
disclosed. Some quote the Chinese as leading the 
way in imprinting language. But their writing was 
hieroglyphical, they did not reach alphabetical writ- 
ing, and they use one hundred and twenty thousand 
characters to express thought. 

But whether writing, which has well been 
spoken of as "nearly divine," is the invention of 
man, oris truly divine in its origin, its possession 
was a great step in human progress. By it speech 
became enduring and universal ; it could be pre- 
served, it could be diffused. Poetry, history, 
science, law, art, religion, thus found expression for 
all time. Through it we commune with the think- 
ers of antiquity. By its aid " the Book " has 
come down to us. Nevertheless, this mode of 
transmitting knowledge was slow, toilsome, costly, 



286 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

and not available to the masses. At the beginning 
of the eleventh century, for example, books were 
so scarce in Spain that one and the same copy of 
the Bible, St. Jerome's Epistles, and some volumes 
of ecclesiastical offices, served several different 
monasteries. Books were the privilege of the 
wealthy and the powerful ; and the common people 
had them not. " The head of society was in the 
light, the feet in the shade," and "the progress of 
truth, science, letters, politics, arts, was slow, and 
suspended through long periods." Some process 
was needed by which the written thoughts of the 
thinkers could be reproduced with greater rapidity, 
and thus placed within the reach even of the poor. 
This, John Gutenberg, in the good providence of 
God, gave mankind, in the discovery of printing. 
With the new art came a new era for the world. 
In a few years after Gutenberg's death all the cap- 
itals of Europe had their printing-presses. France, 
England, Holland, Germany, Venice, Genoa, Rome, 
Poland, seized the invention, and spread abroad 
religious and secular works. In 1500 the Jews 
published tracts on Rabbinical literature in Con- 
stantinople. And Russia, in 1680, established a 
press in Moscow. 

The invention had its enemies, and printing its 
martyrs ; but its glory could not be dimmed, nor its 
progress arrested. Kings and queens turned en- 



ROYAL PRINTERS. 287 

gravers and compositors, glorying to labor with 
their own hands in the wonderful art. The wife of 
Henry IV. designed and printed cuts for some 
royal publications, and engraving with her own 
hand a figure of a young girl, presented it to 
" Philip de Champagne." Louis XV. in his youth, 
printed in his own palace a " Treatise on European 
Geography." The chief printers of the times suc- 
ceeding that of Gutenberg were often the artists, 
the learned men, the writers. They not only re- 
produced the buried works of antiquity, but were 
able to explain and interpret them. 

The Emperor Maximilian ennobled the printers 
and compositors of the new art, authorizing them to 
wear robes braided with gold and silver, such as 
the nobility only had the right to wear, and giving 
them, for a coat of arms, an eagle with wings ex- 
tended on the globe, symbol of free and rapid flight 
and universal conquest. Deserved honor ! fitting 
symbol ! What marvels has printing wrought. It 
has given elementary instruction to the masses, — 
putting into every hand, however humble or toil- 
worn, the printed page, multiplying books to teach, 
amuse, and elevate even the little child. It has 
reformed corrupt religions, fashioned and devel- 
oped philosophy anew, and permeated laws with 
their true spirit. Before its magic touch, the old 
feudal despotisms of the dark ages have fallen, and 



288 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

later and no less oppressive systems have wasted 
away. By its aid time and space seem annihilated, 
as " railways open to it routes, steam lends to it 
wings, and the electric telegraph gives it the in- 
stantaneousness of powder ! " The " preserver of 
all arts," it broods over and perpetuates all useful 
institutions and discoveries ; and trade and com- 
merce are stimulated, guided, systematized, en- 
larged, and furnished with boundless facilities. But 
this mighty engine can be used for evil as well as 
for good, and strike like the thunder-bolt the best 
interests of man. The poet-historian from whom 
we have before quoted, illustrates this by a dream 
of Gutenberg's, which he is said to have related to 
his friends, and to have been translated from the 
German, at Strasbourg, by Mr. Garaud. 

Gutenberg had succeeded in an important ex- 
periment. His success filled him with such enthu- 
siasm that he scarcely slept the night following. 
In his troubled and imperfect rest he had his dream, 
— a dream so prophetic, and so near to the truth, 
that one questions, in reading it, if it be not the re 
fleeting presentiment of a wakeful sage rather than 
the fevered dream of a slumbering artisan. This is 
the account or legend of this dream as it is preserved 
in the library of the counsellor Aulique Beck: — 

" In a cell of a cloister of Argobast sits a man 
with a wan forehead, a long beard, and fixed look, 



GUTENBERG'S DREAM. 289 

before a table, supporting his head with his hand. 
Suddenly he passes his fingers through his beard 
with a quick joyous movement — the hermit of the 
cell has discovered a solution of the problem he 
sought ! He rises and utters a cry ; it was as a relief 
to a long pent-up thought. He hastily turns to his 
trunk, opens it, and takes therefrom a cutting in- 
strument ; then, with nervous jerking movements, 
he sets himself to carve a small piece of wood. In 
all these movments there was joy and anxiety, as 
if he feared that his idea would escape, — the dia- 
mond he had found, and which he wished to set 
and polish for posterity. Gutenberg cut roughly 
and with feverish activity, his brow covered with 
drops of sweat, while his eyes followed with ardor 
the progress of his work. He wrought thus a great 
while, but the time seemed short. At length, he 
dipped the wood in a black liquid, placed it on 
parchment, and bearing the weight of his body on 
his hand in the manner of a press, he printed the 
first letter which he had cut, in relief. He con- 
templated the result, and a second cry, full of the 
ecstasy of satisfied genius, burst from his lips ; then 
he closed his eyes with an air of happiness such as 
would befit the saints in paradise, and fell exhausted 
on a joint-stool ; when overcome of sleep, he mur- 
mured, ; I am immortal ! ' 

" Then he had a dream which troubled him. 4 1 

19 



290 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

heard two voices,' said he, in relating it ; ' two un- 
known and of a different sound, which spoke alter- 
nately in my soul. One said to me, " Rejoice, John ; 
thou art immortal ! Henceforth, light shall be 
spread by thee throughout the world. People who 
dwell a thousand leagues from thee, strangers to 
the thoughts of our country, shall read and compre- 
hend all the ideas now mute, — spread and multi- 
plied as the reverberations of the thunder, by thee, 
by thy work. Rejoice, thou art immortal ! for thou 
art the interpreter whom the nations await that 
they may converse together. Thou art immortal ; 
for thy discovery comes to give perpetual life to the 
genius which would be still-born without thee, and 
who, by acknowledgment, shall all make known in 
their turn the immortality of him who immortalized 
them ! " The voice ceased, and left me in the delir- 
ium of glory. But I heard another voice. It said 
to me, u Yes, John, thou art immortal. But at 
what a price? Thought not unlike thine, is it al- 
ways pure and holy enough to be worthy of being 
delivered to the ears and eves of the human race ? 
Are there not many — the greater number it may 
Ix — which merit rather a thousand times to be anni- 
hilated, and sink to oblivion, than to be repeated and 
multiplied in the world ? Man is oftener perverse 
than wise and good ; he will profane the gift that 
you make him ; he will abuse the new faculty that 



GUTENBURCrS DREAM. 291 

you create for him. More of the world, in place of 
blessing, will curse thee. Some men will be born 
with souls powerful and seductive, and hearts proud 
and corrupt. Without thee, they would rest in the 
shade ; shut in a narrow circle, they would be known 
only to their associates, and during their lives. By 
thee, they will bear folly, mischief, and crime to all 
men and all ages. See thousands corrupted with 
the disease of one ! See young men depraved by 
books whose pages distill soul-poison ! See young 
women become immodest, false, and hard to the 
poor, by books which have poisoned their hearts ! 
See mothers mourning their sons ! See fathers 
blushing for their daughters ! Is not immortality 
too dear which costs so many tears and such an- 
guish ? Dost thou desire glory at such a price ? 
Art thou not appalled at the responsibility with 
which this glory will weigh down thy soul ? Lis- 
ten to me, John : live as if thou hadst discovered 
nothing. Eegard thy invention as a seductive but 
fatal dream, whose execution would be useful and 
holy, if only man was good. But man is evil. 
And in lending arms to the evil, art thou not a par- 
ticipator in his crimes ? " 

" ; I awoke in a horror of doubt ! I hesitated an 
instant ; but I considered that the gifts of God, 
though they were sometimes very perilous, were 
never bad, and that to give an instrument to aid 



292 THE ART OF PRINTING. 

reason, and advance human liberty, was to give a 
vaster field to intelligence and to virtue, — both 
divine. I pursued the execution of my discovery." 

Thus has the art of printing come down to us 
consecrated by the martyr struggles of a heroic soul. 
He died poor, able only to leave a few books to his 
loving sister, yet enriching all mankind by the fruits 
of his genius. U I bequeath to my sister,'' said he 
in his will, " all the books printed by me in Stras- 
bourg." 

But which of the voices that the legend repre- 
sents as speaking to Gutenberg in his dream, shall 
prove a true prophet of the art ? Shall its resist- 
less power blast the world with error and crime, 
or bless the ages with truth and purity ? " The 
first cries of the press," says a historian, " were 
praise and prayer." Let its utterances be for re- 
ligion and learning, God and humanity ; then wel- 
come the hour when the earth shall be covered with 
its swiftly multiplying issues, " the leaves of the 
tree which are for the healing of the nations." 



THE END. 



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